Nigeria, April 23 -- First HoldCo Plc, the parent of Nigeria's oldest lender First Bank of Nigeria, plans to hand out N0.60 per share in dividend (totalling N25.1 billion) to shareholders for the financial year 2024, half more than its cash distribution for the previous year.

The financial services group, which pays dividends once a year, unlike its top-tier peers, which pay twice, said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that shareholders with stakes in the company as of 12 May will be eligible for the cash reward.

First HoldCo's dividend payout ratio, a measure of what it is paying to shareholders out of its profit for the year, stood at 3.7 per cent, down from 4.6 per cent a year ago.

That compares to those of big lenders like Guarant...