Results
View(s):Seylan Group says strong 1H performance this year
Seylan Bank and its group reported a strong growth momentum with its performance for the six months ended June 30, recording a post-tax profit of Rs. 2,310 million, up by 32 per cent from the corresponding 2016 period.
The bank’s post tax profit was at Rs.1,805 million, marginally up by 2.87 per cent from the same 2016 period, the moderate growth being recorded owing to challenging business environment and prudential impairment provisions on legacy NPAs, it said in a media release.
Net interest income increased to Rs. 7,265 million, up by 18.19 per cent.
Other operating income comprising net gains from trading, gains on financial instruments, gains on foreign exchange and other income increased by 46.08 per cent to Rs.892 million.
The release said that the bank reported a net credit growth of 2.97 per cent to Rs. 243 billion during 1H2017. During 1H 2017 the overall deposit base grew from Rs. 273 billion in December 2016 to Rs. 280 billion.
“Seylan Bank has achieved a historic milestone by successfully securing a long term funding facility of US$75 million through Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). These funds were raised in order to enhance small and medium enterprises lending in the bank which is one of the key area of focus in the bank’s 2017-2020 strategic plan,” the release added.
As at June 30, the bank network comprised 166 Banking Centres, 6 CDMs and 203 ATMs. Seylan Bank also continued its CSR initiatives focusing on education and accelerated its libraries project for under privilege schools.
DFCC Bank in strong half year performance
The DFCC Group has reported an excellent half year performance for 2017, with consolidated post-tax profit (PAT) at Rs. 2,944 million, up 71 per cent from the same period last year.
Bank CEO Arjun Fernando noted that this strong bottom line growth was achieved despite a challenging operating milieu. “The external environment was fairly challenging due to rising taxes and pressure on margins in the face of interest rate volatility experienced during the year. However, our sustained momentum in Q2 2017 confirms that our growth strategy is on track.
We took the challenging market conditions into consideration in planning our strategy and we have deployed an array of financially prudent measures, customised financial solutions, digitalisation initiatives, branch expansion and other deposit mobilisation schemes along with staff engagement programmes to fuel our progress.”
The bank also increased its focus on digital transformation technology to accelerate shift away from traditional banking during the year. “The bank’s revolutionary Vardhana Virtual Wallet gained further momentum attracting a large number of users including DFCC customers, non-customers and merchants whilst also achieving a high transactional value. The Wallet is revolutionising payments and offering unparalleled convenience to customers due to its easy to use functionalities. The merchant base has rapidly expanded into large scale supermarkets, fast food chains, retail clothing chains, online stores, salons, cinemas and other merchant categories will be introduced in the near future.
“This expansion has significantly extended DFCC Bank’s market coverage and ability to reach a larger and more diverse customer base. The fruition of this expansion initiative is already being reflected in the rise in deposits and lending,” the bank said in a media release. The bank’s loan portfolio grew to Rs. 198,438 million, reflecting a year on year growth of 19 per cent.
PABC says tough market conditions in 1H 2017
Pan Asia Banking Corporation (PABC) says the first half 2017 profits came against tough market conditions resulting from higher interest rates and lower demand for credit.
In a media release, the bank said net profit rose by 2 per cent from a year ago to Rs. 616.8 million. The performance was largely supported by the bank’s prudent asset and liability management, timely re-pricing of the portfolios, re-calibration of assets in to more remunerative areas and closer tab on overheads.
Despite the challenging macro-economic conditions prevailed for lending as the interest rates remained higher, the bank managed to expand its gross loans and receivables book by little under Rs.5 billion, the release added.
Commenting on the performance, the bank’s Director/CEO, Nimal Tillekeratne said although the bank faced some headwinds during this period which slowed down the growth from the desired level, the bank took some bold decisions and deployed strategies to ensure the future growth path is a sustainable one.
“We simply do not want to be mired in a stop-go style of growth as we have seen in the recent past. Our focus now is on building a solid foundation to ensure a sustainable and a durable growth.”
For the second quarter (2Q’17), the bank posted a net profit of Rs. 263.5 million, down by 12 per cent from the same period last year as the margins pressured amid high cost of funds.
Profits soar at Amana Bank
Amana Bank, in a media statement, said it ended ‘an exceptional first half’ as the bank’s post-tax profit almost tripled to Rs. 151.7 million from Rs.56.1 million achieved in the corresponding first half of 2016.
Post-tax profit for the second quarter alone surged by 376 per cent (YoY) to Rs. 85.1 million from Rs. 17.8 million recorded in Q2 2016.
Driven by its retail and SME banking activities, the bank’s top line performance in financing income saw a YoY growth of 39 per cent to Rs. 2.52 billion in the first half while net financing income for the same period grew by 38 per cent to Rs 1.19 billion.
Commenting on the bank’s performance CEO Mohamed Azmeer said “The remarkable growth in income and profits were achieved amidst the capital raising activities, which we successfully concluded in our recently oversubscribed rights issue. With fresh capital infused which thereby supports our future expansion, I am optimistic that this performance trend will grow during the second half of the year …”. The bank recently raised Rs. 4.75 billion through a rights issue which will result in the bank’s stated capital growing to Rs 10.6 billion, the bank said in a media release.
Union Bank records strong 61% PBT growth
Union Bank’s first half of 2017 has resulted in strong core banking and profitability growth, laying a solid platform for the remaining period of 2017.
In a media release, the organisation said that Union Bank lending grew by 16 per cent while the bank showed a very strong 94 per cent growth on results from operating activities, recording Rs. 364 million in comparison to Rs. 188 million in earlier period,
The bank’s profit before tax and VAT grew by 55 per cent to Rs. 393 million even though its share of profits from subsidiary companies were lower by Rs. 36 million, year-on-year.
“An increase in taxes was experienced as a result of an increase in profits, a shift in the asset mix and an increase in VAT rates. Post-tax profit for the period was Rs. 207 million,” the release said.
Within the second quarter of 2017, Union Bank continued to advance its strategic growth plans in a bid to expand market presence with a deep focus on business development and continuous investment in technological enhancements that enable better service delivery.
Commenting on the bank’s performance for the second quarter of 2017, Director/Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, Indrajit Wickramasinghe stated, “The bank has continued to achieve consolidated growth amidst market volatility, by maintaining a robust balance sheet and a healthy increase in the core banking income. We will continue to build on this core banking performance and balance sheet growth while ensuring that we continuously enhance the banking experience of our wider Corporate, SME and Retail Banking clientele within the remainder of the year.”