STERLING BANK : QUARTER 4 - FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR 2021

Sterling Bank Plc and Subsidiary

Condensed Interim Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Directors' Report

For the year ended 31 December 2021

The Directors present their fourth quarter report on the affairs of Sterling Bank Plc ("the Bank"), together with the unaudited Group Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December, 2021

Principal activity and business review

Sterling Bank Plc is engaged in commercial banking services with emphasis on retail, commercial and corporate banking, trade services, investment banking activities and non-interest banking. It also provides wholesale banking services including the granting of loans and advances; letter of credit transactions, money market operations, electronic banking products and other banking activities.

Legal form

Sterling Bank Plc, (formerly known as NAL Bank Plc) was the pioneer merchant bank in Nigeria, established on 25 November, 1960 as a private liability company and was converted to a public limited company in April, 1992.

Following the consolidation reforms introduced and driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2004, the Bank emerged from the consolidation of NAL Bank Plc, Indo-Nigerian Bank Limited, Magnum Trust Bank Plc, NBM Bank Limited and Trust Bank of Africa Limited. NAL Bank Plc as the surviving bank adopted a new name for the enlarged entity, 'Sterling Bank Plc'.

The enlarged Bank commenced post merger business operations on January 3, 2006 and the Bank's shares are currently quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

In October, 2011, the Bank had a business combination with Equitorial Trust Bank Limited to re-position itself to better compete in the market space.

In compliance with the CBN guidelines on the review of the Universal Banking model, the Bank divested from its four subsidiaries and one associate company on 30 December, 2011.

Sterling Bank Plc registered Sterling Investment Management Plc (the SPV) with the Corporate Affairs Commission as a public liability company limited by shares with authorised capital of N2,000,000 at N1.00 per share. The main objective of setting up the SPV is to raise or borrow money by the issue of bonds or other debt instruments. The SPV is a subsidiary and is consolidated in the financial statements of the Bank. The Bank and its subsidiary is collectively referred to as "the Group".

The Bank has 160 branches including cash centres as at 31 December 2021.

Operating results
Highlights of the Group and Bank's operating results for the period are as follows:
	Group		Bank
In millions of Naira	December 2021	December 2020	December 2021	December 2020
Gross earnings	149,895	138,897	147,502	136,475
Profit before taxation	13,976	12,372	13,847	12,240
Taxation	(1,080)	(1,130)	(1,080)	(1,130)
Profit after taxation	12,896	11,242	12,767	11,110
Transfer to statutory reserve	1,915	1,686	1,915	1,666
Transfer to general reserve	10,981	9,556	10,852	9,443
	12,896	11,242	12,767	11,110
Earnings per share (kobo) - Basic	45k	39k	44k	39k
Earnings per share (kobo) - diluted	45k	39k	44k	39k
	December 2021	December 2020	December 2021	December 2020
NPL Ratio	0.71%	1.90%	0.71%	1.90%

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Sterling Bank Plc and Subsidiary

Condensed Interim Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Directors who served during the period

The following Directors served during the period under review:

	Name	Designation	Date appointed	Interest represented
			/resigned
1	Mr. Asue Ighodalo	Chairman		Moehi Nigeria Limited
2	Dr. (Mrs.) Omolara Akanji	Independent Director
3	Mr. Michael Ajukwu	Independent Director
4	Mr. Olaitan Kajero	Non-Executive Director		STB Building Society Limited
				Eltees Properties
				Rebounds Integrated Services Limited
5	Mrs. Tairat Tijani	Non-Executive Director		Ess-ay Investment Limited
6	Mr. Michael Jituboh	Non-Executive Director		Dr. Mike Adenuga
7	Mr. Ankala Prasad (Indian)	Non-Executive Director		State Bank of India
				Alfanoma Nigeria Limited
8	Mrs. Folasade Kilaso	Non-Executive Director		Plural Limited
				Reduvita Limited
				Quakers Integrated Services Limited
				Concept Features Limited
9	Mr. Paritosh Tripathi (Indian)	Non-Executive Director		State Bank of India
10	Mr. Abubakar Suleiman	Managing Director/CEO
11	Mr. Yemi Odubiyi	Executive Director
12	Mr. Emefienim Emmanuel	Executive Director
13	Mr. Tunde Adeola	Executive Director
14	Mr. Raheem Owodeyi	Executive Director

Going Concern

The Directors assess the Group and the Bank's future performance and financial position on an on-going basis and have no reason to believe that the Group will not be a going concern in the year ahead. For this reason, these financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis.

Directors interests in shares

Interest of Directors in the issued share capital of the Bank as recorded in the Register of members and/or as notified by them for the purpose of section 301 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 were as follows:

			Number of shares
		December 2021	December 2021	December 2020	December 2020
	Names	Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
1	Mr. Asue Ighodalo	-	62,645,242	-	62,645,242
2	Mr Michael Jituboh	-	1,620,376,969	-	1,620,376,969
3	Dr. (Mrs) Omolara Akanji	-	-	-	-
4	Mr. Michael Ajukwu	-	-	-	-
5	Mr. Olaitan Kajero	-	1,592,555,294	-	1,547,951,251
6	Mrs. Tairat Tijani	-	1,444,057,327	-	1,144,046,801
7	Mrs. Folasade Kilaso	-	1,440,337,670	-	1,440,337,670
8	Mr. Abubakar Suleiman	47,325,727	-	47,325,727	-
9	Mr. Yemi Odubiyi	26,471,708	-	26,471,708	-
10	Mr. Emefienim Emmanuel	20,527,369	-	20,527,369	-
11	Mr. Tunde Adeola	27,244,025	-	26,653,041	-
12	Mr. Raheem Owodeyi	15,733,951	-	15,005,219	-
13	Mr. Ankala Prasad	-	2,549,505,026	-	-
14	Mr. Paritosh Tripathi	-	-	-	-

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Sterling Bank Plc and Subsidiary

Condensed Interim Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Analysis of shareholding

The range analysis of the distribution of the shares of the Bank as at 31 December 2021 is as follows:

Range of shares		Number	%	Number	%
			of holders		of units
1	-	1,000	32,327	36.67%	14,488,737	0.05%
1001	-	5,000	26,014	29.51%	58,707,203	0.20%
5,001	-	10,000	8,847	10.03%	59,850,798	0.21%
10,001	-	20,000	7,026	7.97%	95,116,794	0.33%
20,001	-	50,000	5,104	5.79%	160,129,490	0.56%
50,001	-	100,000	3,245	3.68%	225,426,498	0.78%
100,001	-	200,000	2,361	2.68%	339,313,649	1.18%
200,001	-	500,000	1,794	2.03%	566,803,935	1.97%
500,001	-	10,000,000	1,337	1.52%	2,061,654,715	7.16%
Above 10,000,001	107	0.12%	14,759,723,517	51.27%
Foreign shareholding	4	0.00%	10,449,202,790	36.29%
			88,166	100%	28,790,418,126	100.00%

The following shareholders have shareholdings of 5% and above as at 31 December 2021:

	December 2021	December 2021	December 2020	December 2020
	Holding (units)	% holding	Holding (units)	% holding
Silverlake Investment Limited	7,197,604,531	25.00	7,197,604,531	25.00
State Bank of India	2,549,505,026	8.86	2,549,505,026	8.86
Dr. Mike Adenuga	1,620,376,969	5.63	1,620,376,969	5.63
Ess-ay Investments Limited	1,444,057,327	5.02	1,444,046,801	5.02

Acquisition of own shares

The Bank did not acquire any of its shares during the year ended 31 December 2021 (31 December, 2020: Nil).

Property, plant and equipment

Information relating to changes in property, plant and equipment is given in Note 25 to the consolidated and separate financial statements.

Employment and employees

• Employment of disabled persons
  The Bank has a non-discriminatory policy on recruitment. Applications would always be welcomed from suitably qualified disabled persons and are reviewed strictly on qualification. The Bank's policy is that the highest qualified and most experienced persons are recruited for appropriate job levels irrespective of an applicant's state of origin, ethnicity, religion or physical condition.

1. Health, safety and welfare of employees
   Health and safety regulations are in force within the Bank's premises and employees are aware of existing regulations. The Bank provides subsidies to all levels of employees for medical expenses, transportation, housing, lunch etc.
2. Employee training and development
   The Bank is committed to keeping employees fully informed as much as possible regarding the Bank's performance and progress and seeking their opinion where practicable on matters, which particularly affect them as employees.
   Training is carried out at various levels through both in-house and external courses. Incentive schemes designed to encourage the involvement of employees in the Bank's performance are implemented whenever appropriate.
3. Events after reporting date
   There were no events after the reporting date which could have had a material effect on the state of affairs of the Bank as at 31 December 2021 or the profit for the year ended on that date which have not been adequately provided for or disclosed.
   BY ORDER OF THE BOARD:
   Temitayo Adegoke Company Secretary FRC/2018/NBA/00000018142 20 Marina, Lagos, Nigeria. January 28, 2022

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Sterling Bank Plc and Subsidiary

Condensed Interim Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Shareholding Structure/ Free Float Status

For the year ended 31 December 2021

	31-December-2021	31-December-2020
Description	Unit	Percentage	Unit	Percentage
Issued Share Capital	28,790,418,126	100%	28,790,418,126	100%
Substantial Shareholdings (5% and above)
Silverlake Investment Limited	7,197,604,531	25.00%	7,197,604,531	25.00%
State Bank of India	2,549,505,026	8.86%	2,549,505,026	8.86%
Mike Adenuga	1,620,376,969	5.63%	1,620,376,969	5.63%
Ess-ay Investments Ltd	1,444,057,327	5.02%	1,444,046,801	5.02%
Total Substantial Shareholdings	12,811,543,853	44.51%	12,811,533,327	44.51%
Director's Shareholdings (Direct, and Indirect), excluding directors with substantial interests
Mr Asue Ighodalo (Indirect)	62,645,242	0.22%	62,645,242	0.22%
Mrs Folasade Kilaso (Indirect)	-	-	-	0.00%
Mr. Ankala Prasad (Indirect)	-	-	-	0.00%
Mrs. Tairat Tijani (Indirect)	-	-	-	0.00%
Olaitan Kajero (Indirect)	-	0.00%	-	0.00%
Mr Tunde Adeola (Direct)	27,244,025.00	0.09%	26,653,041.00	0.09%
Mr Abubakar Suleiman (Direct)	47,325,727.00	0.16%	47,325,727.00	0.16%
Mr Michael Jituboh (Indirect)	-	0.00%	-	0.00%
Dr. (Mrs) Omolara Akanji	-	0.00%	-	0.00%
Mr. Paritosh Tripathi	-	0.00%	-	0.00%
Mr Yemi Odubiyi (Direct)	26,471,708.00	0.09%	26,471,708.00	0.09%
Mr Emmanuel Emefienim (Direct)	20,527,369.00	0.07%	20,527,369.00	0.07%
Mr Michael Ajukwu	-	0.00%	-	0.00%
Mr Raheem Owodeyi (Direct)	15,733,951	0.05%	15,005,219	0.05%
Total Directors Shareholdings	199,948,022	0.69%	198,628,306	0.69%
Other Influential Shareholdings
Hak Air Limited,	968,205,643	3.36%	968,205,643	3.36%
Hyers Capital Limited	575,808,362	2.00%	575,808,362	2.00%
Pacific Credit Limited,	554,273,018	1.93%	554,273,018	1.93%
ACML Nominee 003	513,954,583	1.79%	513,954,583	1.79%
Adeola Tajudeen Afolabi	504,035,555	1.75%	446,824,745	1.55%
Festus Alani Fadeyi	480,449,895	1.67%	480,449,895	1.67%
Rankinton Investments Inc.	702,093,233	2.44%	477,367,650	1.66%
Skyview Capital Limited	328,124,965	1.14%	428,301,886	1.49%
Glomobile Limited,	354,458,383	1.23%	354,458,383	1.23%
Kogi United Co. Nig. Ltd	346,835,811	1.20%	346,835,811	1.20%
AX SCML Nominees	339,181,010	1.18%	316,388,117	1.10%
Sterling Bank Co-operative Multipurpose
Society Limited	751,750,014	2.61%	879,703,214	3.06%
Total other Influential Shareholdings	6,419,170,472	22.30%	6,342,571,307	22.03%
Free Float in Units and Percentage	9,361,075,495	32.51%	9,437,674,660	32.77%
Free Float in Value	N14,135,223,997.45		N19,252,856,306.40

Declaration:

1. Sterling Bank Plc with a free float percentage of 32.51% as at 31 December 2021, is compliant with The Exchange' free float requirements for companies listed on the Main Board.
2. Sterling Bank Plc with a free float value of N19,252,856,306.40 as at 31 December 2020, is compliant with The Exchange's free float requirements for companies listed on the Main Board.

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