Preference shareholders of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) will enjoy a dividend of GH¢0.0471 per preference share in respect of the dividend period 31 March, 2020 to 30 September, 2020.

The dividend rate is however 18.1519%.

Preference shares, more commonly referred to as preferred stock, are shares of a company’s stock with dividends that are paid out to shareholders before common stock dividends are issued.

According to the bank, all preference shareholders registered in the books of Stanchart at the close of business on Friday, 21 August, 2020 will qualify for the dividend.

The Register of preference shareholders will however be closed from Monday, 24 August, 2020 to Wednesday, 26 August, 2020.

The ex-dividend date has been set as Wednesday, 19 August, 2020.

Consequently, an investor purchasing SCB preference shares before this date will be entitled to the dividend. However, an investor buying SCB preference shares on or after Wednesday, 19 August, 2020 will not be entitled to the dividend.

Meanwhile, the dividend will be paid on Wednesday, 30th September, 2020.

According to the 2019 full year financial result of Stanchart, profit went up 33% to GH¢281 million.

This culminated in an increase in basic earnings from GH¢1.54 per share in 2018 to GH¢2.08 in 2019.