LB Finance reports solid 1H results with 29% growth in income and profit of Rs. 3.4b before taxes

Tuesday, 14 November 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

LB Finance PLC one of the leading Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFI) in the country, has demonstrated strong resilience amidst an extremely challenging first half in the current financial year to post a solid 29% growth in income to reach Rs. 11.6 billion and recorded an impressive Profit After Tax of Rs. 1.9 billion during the six month period ending 30 September 2017. Further the company reported an impressive Rs. 3.4 billion Operating Profit Before Tax on Financial Services.

Net Interest Income of the company surpassed the 5 billion rupee mark, growing by 12% to register Rs. 5.3 billion compared to Rs. 4.7 billion during the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Total loans and advances have grown by 6.6% to register Rs. 95.0 billion compared Rs. 89.1 billion at the end of previous year. The total deposit base of the company reached Rs. 68.6 billion at an impressive growth of 13.5%.

LB Finance PLC Managing Director Sumith Adhihetty said, “We are quite satisfied and impressed with our performance in the 1H of the financial year 2017/18 given the challenging market conditions under which we currently operate. We continued to focus on our key strengths to drive our core business of leasing, asset-backed financing and gold loans, further strengthening our market share in these key market segments within the NBFI sector. Despite prevailing high interest rates and tighter monetary policy posing a challenging business environment for the finance sector in general, we have shown our resilience to deliver impressive results through operational excellence and in particular through the implementation of key strategic initiatives to mitigate the negative impact.”

The total asset base of LB Finance strengthened further with a growth of 8.9% registering Rs. 111.9 billion by the end of 2Q 2017/18 from Rs. 102.8 billion as at 31 March 2017. Earnings per Share (EPS) stood at Rs. 27.30 (annualised) demonstrating sound shareholder return.

Commenting further Adhihetty said that the performance of their key, strategic business units are closely monitored not only for the purpose of reviewing their performance but for prudent deployment of capital and resource allocation as well as to strategically drive the growth of key business areas. Continuing our ambition for growth, this year we expanded to Myanmar to establish our first overseas subsidiary as a green field investment.

Licensed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011 and listed on the Main Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange, LB Finance offers a variety of financial services including Leasing, Factoring, Hire Purchasing, Micro Finance, Mortgage Loans, Gold Loans, Currency Exchange service and Western Union Money Transfer service through an island-wide network of 155 branches and Gold Loans centres, affording unparalleled convenience to the customer.