By Our Correspondent

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Access Bank Plc Wednesday increased its dividend payout by 70 percent (70%) as it proposed to its investors a 60 Kobo dividend for the Audited Year End December 31 2012; coupled with the 25 Kobo interim dividend.

From the Result Announcement of the Bank to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and made available to www.investadvocateng.com in Lagos Nigeria, to record the 70% increase in dividend payment to its shareholders, Access Bank proposed 85 Kobo in year 2012 end compared to the 50 Kobo paid in year 2011 end.

INVESTMENT ONE Research said the Access Bank proposed a final dividend of N0.60 in addition to interim of N0.25, bringing final dividend to N0.85 and resultant dividend yield of 8.10%.

The INVESTMENT ONE Research affirmed that relative to Access Bank’s peers, at the close of today’s session, the Bank with a yield of 8.10% compared to 6.04% and 7.18% recorded by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc respectively, Access Bank led the pack with this performance in terms of dividend yield.

Also, the INVESTMENT ONE Research said Market reaction was flat, the stock closed with 0.1% appreciation and Year-to-Date return on the stock stands at 16% relative to a 24.76% growth by the Banking index.

Access Bank in its Corporate Actions to the Nigeria’s Exchange affirmed that closure date of Register of investors whose name appears on the Bank’s record is April 17 2013 and Annual General Meeting (AGM) and payment date is scheduled for April 25 2013 respectively.

A review of the 2012 Audited Year End of the Bank, shows that Profit After Tax (PAT) grew by 149.7% as the Bank recorded a PAT of N38.405 billion in year 2012 compared to N15.378 billion in year 2011 end.

Similarly, Gross Earnings increased 54% to N208.309 billion compared to N135.635 billion; reflecting an increase of 54% in the review period.

Profit Before Tax (PBT) rose by 86.2% from N24.107 billion in 2011 Financial Year End (FYE) compared to N44.880 billion in the review period of 2012.