Shareholders Approve FCMB’s Plan to Raise Additional N150bn Capital

Dike Onwuamaeze

The Shareholders of FCMB Group Plc have authorised the company to raise additional capital of up to N150 billion through the issuance of securities comprising ordinary shares, preference shares, etc. subject to the regulators’ approvals.

The shareholders gave the approval yesterday, in Lagos, during the 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the FCMB Group Plc.    
The Group Chief Executive Officer of FCMB Group Plc, Mr. Ladi Balogun, said raising the additional capital would enable the group to secure a national banking licence as required by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Balogun said: “Our first objective is to secure a national licence, which is what we will be doing by the capital raising” that have been approved by shareholders at this AGM.

He said that the group, “will now be proceeding to raise capital up to N150 billion initially that will take us substantially clear of the national licence and we hope to conclude that by the end of Q3 2024.
“Then we will commence the subsequent phases and the Phase Two will be to consolidate the bank’s franchise while the Phase Three will be starting sometime next year where we will close out the gap between Phase Two and Phase Three.  

“We have very clear plans and we have a number of options and any combinations of the options that we have will get us there.”
He added: “One of the advantages that we have as a group is that we are much more than a bank. The value of our individual businesses within the group is far greater than our market capitalisation.

“So it gives us a lot of options and I am very confident that these options will gradually be falling in place and by next year when we come to the AGM for the 2024 financial year end, we should have certainly surpassed the requirement for national banking licence and be very advanced on meeting the international licence requirement.”

He added that the group’s aspiration is to raise enough capital to receive an international banking licence before the end of March 2026.  
The Chairman of FCMB Group Plc, Mr. Oladipupo Jadesimi, said that the group’s strategy to raise the capital include “showcasing where it is now in terms of achievements and the tremendous value we believe the group will unlock. We are confident that we will be through.”

Jadesimi declared that for the full year that ended on December 31, 2023, that the group declared a profit after tax of N93 billion.  
A review of the group’s FY 2023 results showed a strong performance across key financial indicators. FCMB Group’s post-tax profits were up 198.8 per cent to N93.0 billion from N31.1 billion recorded in December 2022.
This translated to a Return on Average Equity (ROAE) of 25.2 per cent and Earnings per Share (EPS) of N4.70 kobo for the year.