Accra, June 16, GNA - The management of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), parent company of the leading independent regional banking group Ecobank, on Tuesday said the future looked bright for shareholders after massive investment in infrastructure across the region.

ETI Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Arnold Ekpe, told brokers and journalists that the company had tremendous prospects as it would begin to reap the dividends of investments made in branch rollout and technology in the next few years. "The investments that have been made will bring no immediate gains. The dividends will be in the future," he told the audience at the "Facts behind the figures" programme of the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra. The Ecobank group posted an all-round strong performance for the year as gross revenues rose more than 60 per cent from 697 million dollars in 2007 to 1.2 billion dollars in 2008. Profit before tax, however, fell from 191 million dollars in 2007 to 162 million dollars in 2008.

This drop was despite the international financial crisis and the drop in the value of the bank's local currencies relative to the dollar.

Profit after tax was 65 million dollars as the bank declared a dividend of 0.2 dollar per share amounting to a total dividend of 17.5 million dollars.

The group's asset base grew from 6.6 billion dollars to 8.3 billion dollars. The number of Ecobank branches and offices also increased from 450 to 610 across its vast network, and the group bolstered its steadily growing customer base from 1,202,271 customers in 2007 to 1,841,934 customers in 2008.

Mr Ekpe said the company would enhance growth through introduction of new and innovative products, increase efficiency in operations and skills of staff as well as leverage on the massive geographical coverage.

Besides, the company would streamline its processes and procedures and step up risk management to deliver the expected growth to shareholders.

Asked whether the company had any plan to raise additional funds after it failed to raise 2.5 billion dollars last year, Mr Ekpe ruled out any such plan.

He said the 700 million dollars raised through the offer was enough to finance banking operations.

Mr Ekpe said despite the 28 per cent depreciation of the currencies of countries in which Ecobank operated, the company was able to deliver a good set of results, strengthened its capital base and continued with its strategy of Pan-African coverage. "We remain positive about the future prospects of the economies in which we operate despite the prevailing market conditions," he said. ETI currently operates in 27 African countries and is listed on the stock exchanges in Lagos, Accra and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) - the Abidjan-based BRVM.