In a move that shocked the market, Investrust Bank Plc announced the resignation of three Non-Executive Directors from the bank’s board effective 11th March 2019.
As per requirement of the Lusaka Securities Exchange Listing Rules, the board was compelled to make the announcement in accordance with Section 3.59. The exiting Directors included Dr. Moses Banda, Cosmas Mwanashiku, and Maybin Muyawala, according to SENS announcement published on 25 March 2019.
“Investrust bank has had 4 board resignations in less than 6 months. As a locally owned bank, I’m deeply concerned about its future”, tweeted Jito Kayumba of Venture Capital firm Kukula Capital in Lusaka.
The banks performance as at June 2018 was lackluster. Their P&L recorded a 35% decrease in interest income, a 59% slump in interest expense and a 4% reduction other operating income at half year 2018 in comparison to half year 2017. These dips on record were on the back of a 105% increase in Net Interest Income. Overall, the Banks financial position at the time was 2% smaller in terms of total asset. Their loan and advance book was 16% smaller with customer deposits also heading south at 6% lesser.
The statement issued by the bank does not indicate the reasons for the resignation. However, performance of the Banks security on the LuSE continues to be weak in comparison to the LuSE All Share index. Falling by 11% in May of 2018, the outgoing Directors saw the Bank’s share price remain flat at K12 per share.
At the tail end of 2018, ZCCM-IH through a mandatory offer to the minority shareholder of Investrust issued on 21st March 2018 concluded the deal to increase its stake in the bank. The mandatory offer by ZCCM-IH which opened on 9th April 2018 and closed on Monday, 30th April 2018 recorded a total of 2,125,890 shares tendered for sale to ZCCM-IH. This level of acceptance represented a 26.0% shareholding in the Bank, according to a statement on the ZCCM IH website.