Continuing its divided journey and having just concluded 10 years of operations, Amãna Bank recently announced its fourth consecutive annual dividend by offering its shareholders an interim scrip dividend of 10 cents per share for the financial year 2021. 

The bank’s latest dividend, which totals to over Rs.260 million, is 30 percent higher than the scrip dividend of Rs.200 million paid last year. Prior to this, the bank paid two cash dividends in 2018 and 2019. 

The 2021 scrip dividend, which is in line with the directions of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to all banks on restricting cash dividends, is issued in the proportion of one share for approximately every 29 shares held in the bank and is valued at Rs.2.90 per share. Once the scrip dividend is concluded, the bank’s shares will increase by 89,705,039 shares to reach 2,691,151,194 shares. 

Commenting on the dividend declaration, Amãna Bank Chairman Asgi Akbarally said, “We are pleased to announce our fourth successive dividend as part of our strategy in creating value to our shareholders. Amidst these unprecedented times, our resilient performance enabled us to sustain the trend in rewarding our shareholders with this scrip dividend in appreciation of their longstanding confidence and trust placed in us.”

Also sharing his thoughts, Amana Bank Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Azmeer said, “Our resilient performance in the last few years has enabled us to continue reciprocating our shareholders, this time with a 30 percent higher allocation for dividends compared to the previous year. As the bank continues to grow, we are confident that our dividend journey will only get better in the future.”

The bank earned a profit before tax of Rs.761.4 million and profit after tax of Rs.463.7 million in 2020, while profit before tax and profit after tax for H1 2021 grew significantly to reach Rs.505.7 million and Rs.289.3 million, respectively. Following an impressive 17 percent growth in deposits in 2020, which was one of the highest in the industry, the bank’s deposit base in H1 2020 grew by a further 9 percent to close mid-year at Rs.90.9 billion.

Following conscious strengthening of credit risk parameters in the backdrop of challenging market conditions, advances grew by 11 percent to close at Rs.69.4 billion. Having surpassed the Rs.100 billion mark in total assets in 2020, the bank went on to further grow its total assets to reach Rs.108.7 billion as of June 30. 2021.