Equity Group #ticker:EQTY has cancelled its proposed dividend payout of Sh2.50 per share or a total of Sh9.4 billion, citing the need to conserve cash in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
This is the first time the country’s second-largest bank by assets has skipped dividends since listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in August 2006. It becomes the latest big bank to hold or postpone cash distributions to shareholders after the NCBA Group #ticker:NCBA and the Standard Chartered Bank Kenya #ticker:SCBK.