How a dividend reaches a shareholder: declaration, register, mandate, payment

A dividend is a company's decision to pay part of its profit to the holders of its shares, at so many kobo or naira per share. It reaches you only if three things line up: you are on the company's register on the date it sets, the company's registrar has your bank details, and the payment goes out on its payment date. This page follows that chain.

Declaration: the amount and the dates

The company's board proposes a dividend, usually together with its results, and for a final dividend shareholders approve it at the annual general meeting. The announcement gives the amount per share, the qualification (or closure) date and the payment date, and says whether the dividend is final or interim.

The announcement is the primary source. The Nigerian Exchange publishes the companies' notices; this site lists their titles and links (see the notices page) but does not read the amounts and dates inside the PDFs, so it prints none.

The register and the qualification date

A company pays the shareholders on its register on the qualification date. The register is kept by the company's registrar. Shares bought after the date, or whose purchase has not settled by then, do not carry that dividend.

The practical test: a purchase made too close to the date may not be on the register in time. The settlement cycle matters here; the exchange publishes it, and your broker can tell you the last day to buy.

From announcement to payment

The e-dividend mandate

Dividends are paid electronically to a bank account you have named to the registrar, in a mandate. Without a mandate, a dividend can be left unpaid or paid late, and a dividend not collected for long enough is passed to a register of unclaimed dividends. Your broker or the registrar can tell you whether yours is on file.