Barclays Africa Group chief says Botswana market is important to the overall success of the group’s performance.
Presenting the Group’s financial results for the year ended December 2014 via a telecom press brief from Johannesburg, South Africa, Ms Maria Ramos said the group had never been in a stronger position than now.
“Barclays Africa Group Limited has delivered solid financial results for the year ended December 2014, and is on track to deliver on its strategic priorities and financial commitments,” said Ms Ramos.
She indicated that the group declared a 13 per cent higher total ordinary dividend per share of 925 cents given its strong Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) levels and internal capital generation. “These results clearly show that we have built a solid foundation and that we are building the “Go-To bank in Africa,” she said.
She further said the results demonstrated the sustainable returns created for the group’s shareholders, which is also reflected in the Barclays Africa share price, which has appreciated by 47.2 per cent in the past 12 months and the R21 billion in dividends declared over the past two years.
The group, she said, declared a 10 per cent increase in headline earnings to R13 billion from R11.8 billion in 2013 as pre-provision profit rose by five per cent to R27.3 billion and credit impairments declined by 10 per cent to R6.3 billion.
“Our strategic execution is on track and we have delivered solid growth in our headline earnings in line with expectations and demonstrable progress has been made towards meeting our ambitious commitments,” she said.
Ms Ramos said there was great upside in extracting more value from their existing portfolio and this was their main priority for 2015.
She further said within the growth wealth investment management and insurance (WIMI) business in the Rest of Africa, there was a strong performance in the rest of Africa as businesses in Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia grew strongly contributing to 27 per cent increase in revenue and a 36 per cent improvement in headline earnings.
“Our group is currently top three by revenue in the group’s five largest markets,” she said, adding that share revenue from outside of South Africa is 19 per cent already within reach of the target of 20 to 25 per cent.
Source : BOPA