KARACHI: MCB Bank Ltd posted a six per cent year-on-year increase in the profit after tax (PAT) to Rs4.986 billion for the quarter ending March 31 compared to Rs4.70bn in the same period last year.

The board of directors, which met on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Mian Mohammad Mansha, declared an interim cash dividend of Rs4 per share for the quarter under review. The meeting noted that the bank’s profit before tax for the quarter rose 24pc to Rs9.08bn.

The press release issued by the bank highlighted that based on the interest rate calls, the shorter-term maturity profiling of the asset base enabled the bank to leverage the significant interest rate hike increasing the net interest income by 26pc over the corresponding period last year.

The non-mark up income was reported at Rs3.5bn with major contributions coming in from fee line under credit, guarantees and remittance segments.

The bank’s share of domestic deposits increased to 7.66pc from 7.57pc as of December 2018. Focusing on its low cost deposit base, the bank also added 150,000 new accounts during the quarter under review.

UBL profit soars

United Bank Ltd (UBL) reported a 46.7pc increase in PAT to Rs4.05bn for the first quarter of 2019 ending March 31 compared to Rs2.76bn in the same period last year.

The bank’s earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter rose to Rs3.94 from Rs2.28 for the same quarter in 2018.

The board declared an interim cash dividend of Rs2.50 per share.

Analysts at Topline Secu­rities said that the results were better than expectations primarily due to lower than anticipated operating expenses and provisioning. The bank booked provisions and write-offs amounting to Rs83m, against Rs117m year-on-year. Net interest income grew by 5pc. Non-markup income during the quarter was down 31pc year-on-year mainly due to higher base effect.

HBL earnings fall

Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) recorded a 32pc drop in its PAT to Rs3.18bn for the quarter ending March 31 against Rs4.69bn in the same quarter last year.

The EPS also dipped to Rs2.08 from Rs3.12 in the same quarter last year. The board of directors declared an interim cash dividend of Rs1.25 per share. Total income increased to Rs30bn, from Rs25.12bn.

Analysts at AKD Securities said that the results were above expectation with deviation in provisioning charge. HBL recorded a provisioning reversal of Rs83m against expectation of provisioning charge of Rs2.5bn. Gross yield for 1QCY19 clocked in at 45.4pc, higher than 42.6pc recorded in the previous quarter but down 8 percentage points year-on-year.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2019