Billionaire investor Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), will receives a commission a mixed dividend of N1.68 billion following the bank’s interim payout of 25 kobo per share for the primary half of 2025.
Whereas his direct stake brings in about N375.4 million, the majority of his earnings will come from his oblique holdings, which add one other N1.3 billion.
Collectively, the sum cements Elumelu’s place as considered one of Nigeria’s most constant dividend earners, even in a yr when UBA has trimmed its interim payout in comparison with the file N2.00 per share declared throughout the identical interval in 2024.
The windfall comes from his in depth shareholding within the pan-African lender made up of 1.5 billion direct shares and an extra 5.2 billion held not directly by way of funding autos.
Elumelu’s Oblique Holdings in UBA
- HH Capital Restricted – 1,184,447,676 shares
- Heirs Holdings Restricted – 2,115,222,826 shares
- Heirs Alliance Restricted – 258,972,915 shares
- STH Restricted – 1,336,225,622 shares
- Everlasting Properties – 324,885,419 shares
Whole Oblique Holdings: 5,219,754,458 shares
The dividend announcement comes as UBA reported a pre-tax revenue of N388.4 billion for the primary six months of 2025, a modest decline from the N401.5 billion posted in the identical interval final yr. Regardless of the dip, the outcomes spotlight the bank’s strong earnings streams, significantly from interest-related companies, at the same time as price pressures mount.
Curiosity earnings rose 32.9% year-on-year to N1.3 trillion, up from N1 trillion within the first half of 2024. Treasury payments contributed the most important share at N366.4 billion, adopted carefully by company time period loans at N319 billion. Bonds beneath funding securities added N279.2 billion, whereas money and bank balances generated N113.2 billion. Loans and advances to banks accounted for an additional N105.6 billion.
UBA’s steadiness sheet remained robust, with complete property climbing to N33.2 trillion, up from N30.3 trillion in December 2024. Retained earnings rose practically 13 p.c to N1.6 trillion, exhibiting the bank’s capacity to protect capital even amid volatility.
Backstory
For Elumelu, this newest dividend is a part of a broader sample of hefty earnings from UBA. In 2024, the billionaire investor acquired an estimated N12.71 billion in dividends, in keeping with an evaluation by BusinessTimes.
That payout stemmed from his mixed direct and oblique holdings of two.54 billion shares, unfold throughout three entities: HH Capital Restricted, Heirs Holdings Restricted, and Heirs Alliance Restricted.
In 2022, Elumelu earned about N2.66 billion as dividends from his UBA holdings, following the bank’s declaration of a N1.10 per share payout. In 2022, with a complete dividend of N1.00 per share, his earnings got here to roughly N2.38 billion. These back-to-back windfalls have cemented his status as considered one of Nigeria’s high dividend earners.
UBA’s dividend coverage has fluctuated in recent times. The bank declared a complete payout of N5.00 per share for the 2024 monetary yr, a significant bounce from 2023’s N2.80. The transfer boosted its payout ratio to 22.31%, up from 15.76% a yr earlier.