KARACHI, Aug 29: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) announced their financial figures on Monday.

For the half year ended on June 30, 2005, NBP -— the country’s largest commercial bank -— posted a net profit at Rs4.39 billion, which stood at nearly twice the net profit of Rs2.19 in the corresponding period of the previous year.

NBP’s profit was in line with expectations of most analysts who had forecast the bank’s profit to take a big leap forward in line with all major banks, which on average were depicting over 90 per cent profit growth and a sustained trend in profitability for the fourth year in a row. As was expected, NBP did not announce an interim payout, but the share in the bank rose by Rs4.80 on Monday to close at Rs112.50, with trading seen in 60 million shares.

Pakistan Petroleum Limited reported a net profit amounting to Rs8.62 billion for the year ended on June 30, 2005, which was up from Rs6.62 billion the previous year. The board also announced a final cash dividend at 30 per cent to take the total payout to 55 per cent for the year. Both the earnings and dividend came close to analysts’ expectations.