NCBA Group has raised its dividend by 29 percent to Sh7.10 per share for a total of Sh11.69 billion, representing half of the Sh23.3 billion it posted as net profit for the full year ended December 2025.
The bank recorded a 6.9 percent growth in its full year net income from Sh21.8 billion the year before, buoyed by lower cost of funds.
This saw management declare a final dividend of Sh4.60 per share, payable on May 26 to shareholders who will be on its register at the end of April 30, in addition to an interim payout of Sh2.50 per share paid out in October last year.
This is the sixth dividend increase in a row by the group having made per share distributions of Sh5.50 in 2024, Sh4.75 in 2023 and Sh4.25 in 2022.
“The board has resolved to recommend to the shareholders at the annual general meeting scheduled for May 26,2026 the payment of a final dividend of Sh4.60 per share, which together with the interim dividend of Sh2.5 paid on October 2, 2025 brings the total dividend for the year 2025 to Sh7.10 per share,” said the group’s Managing Director John Gachora.
NCBA's progressive dividend payout was one of the factors cited by South Africa’s Nedbank for its offer to acquire a controlling a 66 percent stake in the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed bank.
The bank recorded a 6.9 percent growth in its full year net income from Sh21.8 billion the year before.
Photo credit: FILE | NMG
Nedbank has offered Sh110.4 billion in cash and stock to buy NCBA in a transaction that will give it a significant presence in the East Africa region including Tanzania and Uganda.
NCBA said its regional subsidiaries delivered a combined profit of Sh17.4 billion, up six percent on the previous year. Its Rwanda’s subsidiary recorded the largest growth rising from a Sh130 million loss to post a Sh92 million profit.
Its non-banking subsidiaries –leasing, insurance, bancassurance and investment bank– recorded a 16 percent growth in earnings to Sh1.49 billion. The investment bank’s profit more than tripled to Sh995 million but a 34 percent decline in profits by bancassurance business to Sh265 million and a deeper dive in losses by the holding company to Sh427 million loss, dampened the performance by the non-banking operations.
NCBA's cost of funds dropped 41.7 percent despite a 5.9 percent growth in customer savings to Sh531.8 billion. This saw its average cost of funds drop to 4.9 percent from 7.4 percent a year earlier.
“Last year we strategically reoriented our funding mix towards current and savings accounts; this led to a slight softness in our deposit book but lowered funding costs,” said Mr Gachora.
The bank had 53 percent of deposits held in current and savings accounts, a shift from 51 percent in 2024 and 48.7 percent in 2023.
Its loan book grew at 5 percent to Sh317 billion which was in tandem with a tough macro environment that had rising non-performing loans and little private credit growth.
The bank reported gross bad debt of Sh35.8 billion, amounting to 10.5 percent of its loan book, which is lower than the industry average of 15.4 percent.
“Despite slower lending we have maintained the quality of our loan book compared to our peers and the industry,” said Mr Gachora.
Management said the bulk of the bad loans was attributable to ten corporate borrowers underscoring the trouble that lenders are having collecting from large businesses.
