No dividend for CAL Bank shareholders

Shareholders of CAL Bank will not receive dividends with respect to the 2016 financial year.

“As a result of the reduced profitability and the need to preserve the capital base of the Bank and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, the Board does not recommend the payment of a dividend”, Chairman of the Board, Paarock Van Percy stated in its 2016 Financial Report.

He however said “It is our expectation that 2017 will turnout a better year and we will return to the era of consistent dividend payment.”

The report explained that the bank made significant progress in executing the first year objectives of its 3-year Strategic Plan for the period 2016 – 2018.

This plan serves as the bedrock for bringing about CAL’s digital transformation agenda to ensure sustainable growth as banking goes through a changing digital landscape.

In attaining these strategic goals, the bank produced the usual bright performance in its main revenue generating line of Interest Income, which grew by almost 19.9 percent from GHc461.1 million to GHc552.7 million. However the other revenue generating lines were marginally down as a result of challenges with general commercial activity and the reduced volume of business.

The report stated that the main impact on the year 2016 financial results was the level of impairment charge. This was largely the result of significant charges arising out of the challenges posed to the banking industry’s exposures to the Energy and Commerce sectors.

Consequently, CAL recorded a profit after tax of GH¢7.2 million and GH¢10.2 million by the Group, a significant drop from prior year’s performance.

Managing Director, Frank Adu Junior said CAL Bank is currently deploying Point of Sale Terminals to businesses to facilitate MasterCard and Visa Card payments, and a project is underway to facilitate online payments with Visa, MasterCard and Union Pay International cards.

He promised a turnaround time this year as the outlook is promising.

Meanwhile, the bank will embark on a project to rebrand and revitalize the CAL brand after 26 years of operations.