Amãna Bank 1H PBT almost doubles

Wednesday, 8 August 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

PBT grows to Rs. 400 million from Rs. 211 million

Having recently declared its inaugural dividend of seven cents per share, Amãna Bank continued to showcase a strong performance in terms of profitability, as it closed the first six months of 2018 by recording a Profit before Tax of over Rs. 400 million, which almost doubled from Rs. 210.8 million recorded in the first six months of 2017.

Similarly, the bank recorded a Profit after Tax of Rs. 288.2 million against Rs. 151.7 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2017, reflecting an impressive YoY growth of 90%. Whilst the bottom line performance has been noteworthy, EPS remained at 12 cents per share, purely due to the number of shares doubling, subsequent to the successful Rights Issue in Q3 2017.

The bank’s focus to further expand its core banking activities yielded positive results, with the bank recording a 27.1% YoY growth in Financing Income which grew to Rs. 3.20 billion from Rs. 2.52 billion, whilst Net Financing Income grew to Rs. 1.58 billion from Rs. 1.19 billion, reflecting a 32.4% YoY growth. This assisted the bank’s Financing Margin to record a healthy 4.4% compared to 4.2% at end-2017. During the period, the bank’s Net Fee and Commission income reported a significant YoY growth of 31.8%. After providing for impairment on financing and accounting for an increase in Operating Expenses of 8.2%, the bank was able to record a significant 70.8% growth in Operating Profit before VAT on Financial Services and NBT to close the first half at Rs. 620.8 million.

Due to the growing acceptance of the non-interest-based banking model, the bank’s Total Assets grew to Rs. 69.2 billion as at 30 June 2018, whilst Customer Deposits and Customer Advances closed at Rs. 55.4 billion and Rs. 46.8 billion respectively. Reflecting challenging market conditions, the bank’s Gross Non-Performing Advances Ratio increased to 2.49% from 1.89% at end-2017, whilst the Net Non-Performing Advances Ratio stood at a healthy 1%, well below the industry average.

Commenting on its first-half performance, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Azmeer said: “It is encouraging to see the traction the bank has achieved during the last six months, resulting in sustained profitability for the bank. Having commenced reciprocating our shareholders with the inaugural dividend, we are confident that this performance will lead us to greater success in line with our five-year strategic plan. We are once again grateful to our customers, staff and other stakeholders for their unwavering support and commitment throughout our journey thus far.”

Amãna Bank Plc is a standalone institution licenced by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange with Jeddah-based IDB Group being the principal shareholder having a 29.97% stake in the bank. The IDB Group is a ‘AAA’ rated multilateral development financial institution with an authorised capital base of over $ 150 billion, which has a membership of 57 countries.

Fitch Ratings in June 2018 affirmed Amãna Bank’s National Long-Term Rating of BB(lka) while revising its outlook to Positive from Stable. Amãna Bank does not have any subsidiaries, associates or affiliated institutions representing it.