ADB gears up for GSE

The Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) is getting its act together to enable it list on the Ghana Stock Exchange this year.

The Managing Director of ADB, Mr. Stephen Kpordzih who dropped the hint, said as a 100 percent state-owned bank, government is studying the proposals and will make a definite statement on the matter.

For the past two years ADB has charted a new strategic path that has seen it produce better-than-expected results consistently.

Mr. Kpordzih said: “We are purging the system in readiness for the stock exchange.”
Its 2011 financial results show another stellar performance by the bank, revealing remarkable strengths in a number of performance indicators.

He explained that certain initiatives undertaken by the bank have underpinned the strong performance.

“We have managed to block some income leakages, and managed costs very well. For instance, last year our costs only grew by 8%. We have strengthened our treasury and opened 22 more branches to a total number of 76 currently. We don’t intend to open a branch this year.”

He described last year as “an extremely good year, looking at the heat we took.”
ADB had to clear outstanding balances of a negative GH¢32million that had remained on its books since 2002.

The bank also had to address the issue of GH¢92million toxic assets on its books. However, Mr. Kpordzih explained: “It’s not like we have given up on those debts. We have set up a team which is ensuring the recovery of those debts through the courts and other means.”

The bank posted a profit before national stabilisation levy of GH¢51.1million, showing a 301% rise over the previous year’s figure.

The increase in profit was against a backdrop of considerable expansion in the balance sheet of the bank as assets rose from GH¢968.2million in 2010 to GH¢1.2billion in 2011, showing 25.4% growth.

Major earning assets included loans and advances, which went up from GH¢557.0million to GH¢678.6million, registering a growth of 17.6 percent.

Customer deposits grew significantly from GH¢536.1million to GH¢827.7million, representing a growth of 54.4% during the period.

Mr. Kpordzih explained: “This happened because of the pragmatic, strategic initiatives the bank has been implementing since 2010, thus responding to customer needs and providing attractive, quality and efficient customer service.”

The bank transferred GH¢25.0million from its stated capital account, which increased its stated capital from GH¢50million to GH¢75.0million. This enabled it to fully comply with the regulatory minimum capital requirement of GH¢60million ahead of the 31st December 2012 deadline given by the Bank of Ghana for full compliance by indigenous Ghanaian banks.

With regard to agricultural financing, ADB made financing arrangements for the sector during the year under review. The agric sector had total new lending amounting to GH¢141.7million, compared to GH¢100.1million in 2010.

The bank also made some new interventions in the agro-processing sub-sector and invested a total of GH¢84.5million.

Source:B&FT