Commercial Bank’s 9-month pre-tax profit tops Rs. 12 bln
View(s):The Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC reported Profit Before Tax of Rs 12.190 billion for the nine months ending 30th September 2015 last week.
In a media release, the bank said its Profit After Tax of Rs 8.426 billion at the end the third quarter reflected growth of 7.96 per cent, while Gross Income at Rs 56.694 billion was an improvement of 4.58 per cent. Profit Before VAT and NBT was up 8.51 er cent to Rs. 14.235 billion.Interest Income for the nine months improved by 4.53% to Rs 48.605 billion, while Interest Expenses grew by a lower rate of 1.08% to Rs 26.207 billion, helped by the growth of low cost funds in the Bank’s deposit mix in the review period. Consequently, Net Interest Income grew by a higher rate of 8.88% to Rs. 22.398 billion, the bank said.
Commenting on the performance up to the third quarter, Commercial Bank Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe said: “The figures are a good indication of how the bank has kept its momentum going throughout the review period in the face of changing conditions and reduced margins. We have also had robust deposit and loan growth in the review period and hope to end the year with a characteristically solid result.”Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Jegan Durairatnam noted that the impact of factors such as the absence of bond trading income and less favourable interest rates in 2015 had been effectively mitigated by the bank’s strong attention to improving volumes in core business areas.
Deposits from customers totalled Rs 588.917 billion at the end of the nine months reviewed, up Rs 59.556 billion at an average of Rs 6.6 billion per month since 31st December 2014. Year-on-Year growth of the Bank’s deposit base was Rs 84.756 billion or 16.81%.