Zhengzhou Bank’s first-quarter net profit has sharply declined, marking the second consecutive year of profit decrease and four years without dividend distribution to shareholders.
On the evening of April 29th, Zhengzhou Bank (002936.SZ) disclosed its 2024 first-quarter financial performance.
The quarterly report shows that Zhengzhou Bank achieved operating income of 3.40 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.47%. The net profit attributable to shareholders reached 967 million yuan, down by 18.57% compared to the same period last year, with basic earnings per share of 0.11 yuan, a decrease of 0.02 yuan year-on-year.
Following the decline in both revenue and net profit in 2023, Zhengzhou Bank’s profit in the first quarter of 2024 has once again decreased. The 2.47% growth in revenue is mainly attributed to the lower base of 33.18 billion yuan in revenue in the first quarter of 2023, which had decreased by 3.01% year-on-year.
Previously, Zhengzhou Bank reported operating income of 14.801 billion yuan in 2021, a 1.33% increase year-on-year, with a net profit of 3.226 billion yuan, up by 1.85%. In 2022, operating income rose to 15.101 billion yuan, a 2.03% increase, but net profit fell to 2.422 billion yuan, a 24.92% drop. By 2023, operating income had declined to 13.667 billion yuan, down by 9.50%, and net profit had decreased to 1.850 billion yuan, a 23.62% drop year-on-year.
Furthermore, since distributing 592 million yuan in cash dividends in 2019, Zhengzhou Bank has not distributed dividends for four consecutive years. Data from Wind indicates that among the 42 A-share listed banks, Zhengzhou Bank is the only one that has not distributed dividends in nearly four years.
Regarding the decision not to distribute dividends, Zhengzhou Bank’s Chairman Zhao Fei provided three main reasons: firstly, the profitability has been impacted to a certain extent; secondly, to further enhance risk resistance capacity; and thirdly, to retain undistributed profits for supplementing core Tier 1 capital.
Due to the continuous decrease in net profit for two years and years without dividend distribution, as of the closing on April 30, Zhengzhou Bank’s shares were at 1.93 yuan per share, a decrease of 66.38% from its peak since listing, with a market value of 15.1 billion yuan.
Established in November 1996, Zhengzhou Bank was renamed in 2009. On December 23, 2015, it was listed on the Hong Kong main board. On September 19, 2018, it was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming the first city commercial bank to be listed on both the “A” and “H” shares.