Shareholders only got one interim dividend payment for 2020

National Commercial Bank (NCB) is advising that there will be no more interim dividend payment for 2020, having only made one payment last year.

The last interim dividend payment received by shareholders was back in March last year when the Board of Directors, declared an interim dividend of $1.00 per ordinary stock unit. The dividend payment was made on March 2, 2020 to stockholders on record as at February 14, 2020.

At its board on April 30, 2020, the director decided not to declare an interim dividend for the April quarter due to the prevailing circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The board at that time declared that subject to the occurrence of any relevant changes, it would be unlikely to declare interim dividends for the remainder of the financial year, which ended in September 2020.

As such no dividend was declared for the rest of 2020 but this is being extended to the first quarter of the 2021 financial year, which runs from September to December 2020.

NCB advised that, “the Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on February 4, 2021, to consider and approve the release of its unaudited financial statements for the quarter ended December 31, 2020. It is not proposed to have the declaration of a dividend considered at this meeting.”

NCB recorded a 36 per cent decline in net profits attributable to shareholders for its 2020 financial year ended September 30, 2020. With great uncertainty as a result of COVID-19, the banking group has decided to focus on building its liquidity and remaining sufficiently capitalised to tackle the new business environment.

One of the means to retain capital has come from NCB not paying a dividend since the pandemic started.

Despite the Bank of Jamaica giving reprieve to financial holding companies to pay shareholders who own less than one per cent of the shares, NCB’s Deputy CEO Dennis Cohen revealed that the company didn’t receive unanimous approval from their 11 shareholders, who own more than one per cent of the issued shares. NCBFG has more than 44,000 shareholders who received part of the $5.4 billion ($2.00) paid during the financial year compared to the $8.3 billion paid in the prior financial year.

The NCB Group is the largest and most profitable financial services group in Jamaica, with roots dating back to 1837. NCB offers banking wealth management, life and general insurance. The NCB Group includes NCBJ, NCB Capital Markets Limited and its subsidiaries in Barbados and Cayman, NCB Insurance Agency and Fund Managers Limited, NCB (Cayman) Limited, Clarien Group Limited and its subsidiaries in Bermuda, Guardian Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries as well as NCB Global Finance Limited in Trinidad and Tobago.