KARACHI: Meezan Bank Ltd reported a net profit of Rs19.9 billion for the first nine months of 2021, up 8.17 per cent from a year ago.

Along with the result, the bank announced a cash dividend of Rs1.50 per share, taking the cumulative cash dividend for the nine-month period to Rs4.50 per share. This is in addition to a bonus of 10pc.

According to AKD Securities, the result was in line with analysts’ expectations.

On a quarterly basis, net income for July-September went up 4.3pc to Rs7.06bn.

The brokerage house attributed the sequential uptick in earnings to the balance sheet’s volumetric growth. “It overshadowed higher tax expense owing to an increase in effective tax rate (July-September: 41pc versus 38.2pc in the same period last year) on the back of the bank falling short of the minimum advances-to-deposits ratio threshold,” it said.

The share price of Meezan Bank dropped 0.1pc to Rs139.11 apiece on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2021