Stockbrokers Commend Oceanic Bank
Ipo
The Chief Executive Officers of major stock broking firms in the country have commended the Management of Oceanic International Bank Plc for the phenomena growth of the bank in the past four years.
They also expressed confidence that Oceanic Bank's Initial Public Offer (IPO) which is about to open very soon will be fully subscribed.
At a meeting of key Stockbrokers held at Oceanic Bank's Head Office in Lagos, the CEOs, led by Rev. Olu Odeyemi of Clear View Securities Limited, observed that the bank has recorded significant achievements since its establishment in 1990, which have elevated it to its present status as one of the leading banks in Nigeria and one of the highest capitalized banks on account of its N3 billion(three billion naira paid up capital and shareholders fund of over N7 billion )
The outstanding performance of Oceanic Bank has attracted to it various prizes which include; CBN Bankers Committee Award as the Best Bank in Real Sector Finance in 2003, The Second Nigeria bank to be given the Direct Agency of Western Union Money Transfer, the only Agent in West Africa to meet the 2003 Performance and Revenue targets set by a Western Union, one of the top issuers of Valucard (E-payment) system and "Aa" grade from Agusto & Co., Global Credit Rating of South Africa on its ]une 2004 rating report of the Bank assigns short-term rating A1+ and long term rating AA -. The rating describes the Bank as an institution with very high credit quality, highest certainty of timely payment and outstanding short term liquidity.
A breakdown of its balance sheet indicates Profit After Taxation (PAT)grew from N254 million in 1999 to over 2.8 billion by 2003 representing a growth of over 1000 per cent in just four years. Likewise, the Bank's Total Deposit Liabilities and Total Assets grew from N5.89 billion and N8.93 billion in 1999 to N49.36 billion and N64.98 billion respectively. This represents over 736 per cent growth in Deposit Liabilities and over 622 per cent growth in Total Assets within the four year period.
The financial performance of Oceanic Bank shows that it is the fastest growing bank in Nigeria. Its balance sheet increased from N9 billion in 1999 to N84 billion in 2003. Gross Earnings during the year ended 30th September 2003 was over W11 billion, this increased about 500 per cent as compared to 1.0 billion in 1999.
The audited results of the bank for the nine months ended June 30, 2004 shows that the bank has already achieved 91 per cent of the Gross earnings recorded for the 12 months ended September 30, 2003. While gross earnings for the 2002/03 financial year was N11. l billion, current audited position for the first 9 months shows a gross earnings position of N10.l billion.
In similar vein, the bank's audited profit after tax for the first nine months of the current financial year shows a 90 per cent achievement of the prior year's 12 months' performance just as current audited profit after tax to June 30, 2004 stood at N2.5 billion (2003: N2.86).
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