THE CHAIRMAN of Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL), Vincent Pereira, on November 8, announced profit attributable to equity holders of the parent of US$195.8 million for the year ended September 30, 2021.

A release RFHL said although the performance was 17.3% (US$40.9 million) below the 2019 performance, it represents an improvement of 44.7% (US$60.5 million) over the 2020 reported profits. Total assets stood at US$16.3 billion on September 30, 2021, an increase of US$732.3 million or 4.7% over that of the prior year.

In announcing the results Pereira said, “In 2021, Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) and its subsidiaries (the Group) continued to support our clients across all the territories in which we operate. The Group assisted clients through deferral of loan payments, reduced interest rates and discounted fees. We participated in various national initiatives to promote higher vaccination rates and to help those adversely impacted by the Coronavirus. The financial impact of this was reduced revenues and increased costs across the Group. Our overall performance was bolstered to some extent by the full year’s contribution of our new subsidiary in the British Virgin Islands, notable improvements in Ghana and the Cayman Islands and lower levels of provisioning.”

He went onto say, “During this fiscal, the Group has also made meaningful steps toward our sustainability initiative through alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In April 2021, we joined a group of the leading global commercial banks as founding signatories to the United Nations- convened, Net-Zero Banking Alliance. In June 2021, we announced our US$200 million Climate Finance Goal to finance activities that reduce the impact of climate change and create environmental solutions in collaboration with our clients.”

The Board of Directors has declared a final dividend of US$0.45 (2020: US$0.31) per share, which brings the total dividend to US$97.7 million or US$0.60 (2020: US$0.40) per share for the fiscal year. This represents an increase of 48.2% in total dividend payment, reflective of the increase in profitability in the current fiscal year. At a closing share price of US$20.40, this dividend represents a dividend yield of 2.93% (2020: 1.90%). The final dividend will be paid on December 1, 2021 to all shareholders of record on November 18, 2021.