Equity 2020 Results: Equity Bank has announced a full year net profit of Sh. 20.1 billion. This profit which covered the full year ended December 31, 2020, was a 12 per cent drop from the Sh. 22.6 billion net profit the bank posted the previous year.
Following the drop, Equity Bank has announced that it will not pay any dividends. This is the second year that the bank has failed to pay shareholders dividends. Equity’s last dividend payout was on the 2018 performance. During that year, shareholders took home Sh. 7.54 billion.
The bank has attributed the drop in profit to the tough 2020 year that caused a huge loan loss. During the year under review, Equity’s loan loss provision grew five folds with restructured loans hitting Sh. 171 billion or 32 per cent of the total loan book. ”The impact of Covid-19 pandemic made the year 2020 an exceedingly difficult year characterized by lost jobs, unemployment, lost investments and human misery,” Equity Bank Group chief executive officer Dr. James Mwangi said.
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Dr. Mwangi said that that as the bank, Equity had drifted from the balance sheet, profits, and numbers and chose to protect customers and staff.
During the year, loan loss provisioning rose from Sh. 5.3 billion to Sh. 26.63 billion. Net interest income rose by 22.6 per cent to Sh. 55.15 billion, while non-interest income grew 25 per cent to Sh. 38.51 billion. Equity 2020 Results.
