Stanbic Holdings has raised its dividend per share for the fourth straight year to Sh22.35 per share even as net profit for the financial year ended December 2025 remained flat at Sh13.72 billion.
The lender has proposed a final dividend per share of Sh18.55 to add to the interim payout of Sh3.80. The distribution marks a 7.7 percent rise from Sh20.74 per share that investors received the previous year when net profit was Sh13.71 billion.
“Subject to shareholders’ approval, the final dividend will be payable to the members of the company registered on the share register of the company on the closure date, May 15, 2026,” said the lender in a commentary accompanying the results.
This year’s distribution, amounting to Sh8.83 billion or 64.4 percent of the net profit, is the highest in the history of the company. The latest per share distribution is more than double the Sh9 that the lender paid in 2022.
Net profit remained flat in a period both the net interest income and non-interest income dropped. Net interest income reduced to Sh24.08 billion from Sh24.34 billion while non-interest income dropped to Sh14.43 billion from Sh15.4 billion.
Operating expenses rose to Sh17.95 billion from Sh17.67 billion despite the credit impairment charges nearly halving to Sh1.63 billion from Sh3.09 billion in the previous year.
The lender’s assets have risen to Sh541.25 billion from Sh454.83 billion, coming in the period deposits from banks and customers rose to Sh418.61 billion from Sh339.01 billion.
Stanbic becomes the second big bank to release its 2025 full year results, with others expected to do so before the end of the month. KCB Group is set to release its full year results after the close of trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange on Wednesday.
Central Bank of Kenya data shows Kenya’s commercial banks grew their pre-tax profit by 20 percent in the year ended December 2025 to pass the Sh300 billion mark for the first time, signalling higher dividend payouts to shareholders and bonuses for staff.
The lenders posted a pre-tax profit of Sh311.8 billion in the review period, up from Sh260 billion a year earlier on reduced expenses. The Kenyan operations make a major contribution to group results.
The performance of the lenders, such as Equity Bank Kenya and KCB Bank Kenya, will boost the group earnings of institutions, which have operations in other markets, including Uganda, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The performance signals a bigger headroom for banks to reward their shareholders with higher dividend payouts.
Staff bonuses and salary increments are mainly pegged on company performance, with the bumper profits giving bank employees hopes of a huge payday at the end of this month, in tandem with their employers' performance.
