First Bank Holds AGM, Appoints Otedola, Ariyibi Into Board

FBN Holdings Plc (FBNHoldings), the parent company of Nigeria’s premier financial inclusion services provider, First Bank, on Tuesday, held its 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) after filing a stay of execution of the restraining order stopping the AGM.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the the Federal High Court in Lagos had restrained the bank from holding its AGM after hearing an ex-parte application moved by Muiz Banire, representing the three petitioners — Olojede Solomon, Adebayo, Oluwafemi Abayomi, and Ogundiran Adejare.

However, FirstBank in a statement issued earlier on Tuesday, said it has appealed the order and also filed a motion on notice for a stay of execution of the order.

The statement was signed by the Acting Company Secretary, Adewale Arogundade, and filed on the Nigerian Exchange.

The virtual AGM was presided over by the Group Chairman, Alhaji Ahmad Abdullahi, with shareholders, directors, Management staff and other stakeholders in attendance.

At the meeting, the group announced the appointment of billionaire, Femi Otedola and Oyewale Ariyibi into the board as Non-Executive Director and Executive Director, respectively.

The resolution to increase the Company’s Issued Share Capital from 17,947,646,396 of 35,895,292,792 ordinary shares of 50kobo each to N22,434,577,995 by the creation and addition of up to 8,973,823,198 ordinary shares of 50kobo was also approved at the meeting. The amendment of clause 6 of the Memorandum of Association, to reflect the newly issued capital of N22,434,557,995 by the creation and addition of up to 8,973, 823, 198 ordinary shares of 50K was also approved.

On dividend, the group announced a dividend of 50kobo per share to its shareholders which is an increase of 43% from 35kobo per share paid in prior year.

Alhaji Abdullahi presented an overview of the group’s performance over the past financial year highlighting key achievements, strategic initiatives and vastly improved performance indices. The Chairman outlined the strategic plans for the upcoming year and informed shareholders of appointments to the board.

The Group Chairman reiterated the group and its subsidiaries’ commitment to continuously innovate and leverage opportunities to build on its customer-centric services, as he underscored the value of these services in achieving sustainable growth and impact on the host communities of its businesses across the globe.

Speaking further at the AGM, Alhaji Abdullahi, said “the Group actively develops targeted initiatives to strengthen its capacity to create value greater than the sum of the individual parts. At FBNHoldings, technology and innovation are at the core of what we do. We recognise the competitive advantage innovation affords us and ensure it takes the front seat in the design, development and enhancement of our products and services.”

Among the key highlights of the AGM were the strong financial performance despite the challenges experienced in the global business climate. The group sustained improvement on key indicators as its gross earnings and net interest income recorded growth, with NPL reducing from 6.1% to 4.3%, demonstrating its prudent risk management.