Shareholders still own Skye Bank, says Ahmad

GLAXOSMITHKLINE Consumer Nigeria Plc has promised better returns on in­vestments as its shareholders gave heir nod to the 30k divi­dend proposed by its board.
Speaking at the 45th An­nual General Meeting of the company in Lagos, Mr. Ed­mund Onuzo, its Chairman , said that despite the prevail­ing economic challenges of 2015, the company remains committed to ensuring that its shareholders get returns on their investments.

According to Onuzo, the company’s decline in profit­ability was attributed to a very challenging year due to the country’s economic adversi­ties. Nevertheless, the Board recommended a dividend of
THE Chairman of Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Mohammad Ahmad, has said the reconstitution of the board of the bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was not a takeover , but an intervention to correct corporate governance lapses.
Ahmad made the clarifica­tion Friday while addressing shareholders on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange where the new board had gone to provide information on recent developments in the bank. While explaining that the ownership of the bank remains in the hands of the shareholders, he said the CBN does not own the bank and has not taken over the bank. The Skye Bank chair­man disclosed that the apex bank is fully behind the bank and would support it to stabi­lize fully.
Ahmad, a former Director General of the National Pen­sion Commission(PenCom), re-assured customers and investors that the bank is not distressed.
He said the bank’s funda­mentals remain strong and still one of the leading retail banks in the country.
In his remarks, the Group Managing Director/Chief Ex­ecutive Officer, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, said the management team and the board would work to achieve value en­hancement for shareholders, customers and other stake­holders by bringing the cost-income ratio to acceptable levels, improve the risk assets quality and work towards increasing the liquidity and capital adequacy of the bank.
Abiru described the recon­stitution of the bank’s board as an intervention and not a takeover by the CBN, saying the lender’s fundamentals are   good and strong.
The CBN had on Monday approved the reconstitution of the Board of Skye Bank Plc., with the apex bank ap­pointing Ahmad and Abiru as the new Chairman and Man­aging Director respectively. Other members are Bayo  Sanni, Idris Yakubu, Markie Idowu and Abimbola Izu, all of whom were serving in the Executive Director capacity of the Bank prior to now.