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I&M ups dividend for fifth year as profit hits Sh18.8bn
I&M Bank Group Chief Finance Officer David Ngata (left) with I&M Bank Regional CEO Kihara Maina during the banks FY2025 Financial Results and Performance release held on March 25, 2026 at the Sarova Stanley Hotel.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
I&M Group has raised its dividend for the year ended December 2025 by 25 percent to Sh3.75 per share to a record Sh6.52 billion, marking the fifth straight year of increased payout as profits grew.
The lender has proposed a final dividend of Sh2.25 per share amounting to Sh3.91 billion, having distributed an interim dividend per share of Sh1.50 amounting to Sh2.61 billion mid-January this year.
The final dividend, subject to approval at the annual general meeting, will be paid on or about May 21, 2026, to shareholders on I&M’s register as of April 17.
The higher payout compared to Sh3 per share totalling Sh5.02 billion distributed for the prior year, follows a 27.6 percent growth in net profit to Sh18.78 billion in the year to December 2025 from Sh14.72 billion the year before.
The latest dividend, equivalent to 34.7 percent of net profit, is the fifth year in a row that I&M is increasing cash returns to shareholders.
The lender paid Sh1.125 on 2020 performance alongside a bonus of one share for each held, before increasing the per share distribution to Sh1.50 on 2021 profit. This was followed by Sh2.25 and Sh2.55 on the net earnings of 2022 and 2023, respectively.
I&M profit growth in the review period came on the back of net interest income rising 16 percent to Sh45.95 billion and non-interest rising 30.8 percent to Sh14.38 billion.
“We had a strong growth in operating income driven by increased customer numbers and growth in loan book. The profit growth is one of the highest we have seen reported in the industry,” said Kihara Maina, I&M regional CEO during the release of results on Wednesday.
Mr Maina said the Kenyan unit increased its share of pre-tax profits to 76 percent from 72 percent on the back of currency translation impact for businesses outside the country.
The contribution from Rwanda was 13 percent followed by Tanzania (five percent), Bank One Mauritius (three percent) and Uganda (two percent).
The group’s interest income from loans and advances to customers fell to Sh45.59 billion from Sh50.31 billion. However, interest from government securities rose to Sh21.2 billion from Sh16.54 billion, which together with reduced interest expenses, led to the growth in net interest income.
“We could not let our balance sheet sit idle. As we scan the environment we have to be careful. We had to deploy more in government securities given what we were seeing in the market,” said David Ngata, group chief finance officer at I&M.
Operating expenses during the review period hit Sh36.92 billion, being a 16.3 percent growth from Sh31.74 billion in 2024. The rise was on the back of loan loss provisions increasing by eleven percent to Sh8.69 billion and staff costs rising 20.3 percent to Sh10.9 percent.
The rise in provisioning for bad loans was despite the non-performing loans ratio improving to 9.8 percent from 11.8 percent. The increase bucked the industry trend where many lenders have been cutting this provision.
“The rise in loan loss provisioning was because of the pressure we saw in some markets, especially Tanzania, towards the end of the year. For staff costs, this reflects increased staff size to 3,601 from 3,246 and the expanded branch network,” said Mr Maina.
I&M has been expanding its focus from corporate and commercial customers into retail and small and medium-sized enterprises lending, helping it to speed up its expansion. In Kenya, the lender added 12 branches and 11 ATMs last year.
The lender is now increasing focus on areas such as oil and gas, public sector, leasing and trade financing on the China corridor.
