KARACHI, April 28: The Board of Directors of MCB Bank here on Thursday declared 20 per cent cash dividend for the first quarter ending March 31, 2006.

The board in its meeting also approved the financial results for the quarter. The bank posted a record pre-tax profit of Rs4.2 billion compared to Rs2 billion earned during the same period last year, showing an increase of 110 per cent.

The after-tax profit stood at Rs3 billion compared to Rs1.4 billion of the same quarter last year, and the earning per share rose to Rs5.87 from Rs2.74.

According to Bank sources, the remarkable growth in earnings had been registered by leveraging the balance sheet focusing on increasing lending to different segments of the economy.

The loan to deposit ratio increased from 62.3pc to 75.5pc at the end of the quarter, which helped in increasing the net mark-up income by 91pc to Rs4.9 billion. Fee based income increased by 8.8pc to Rs595.9 million as against Rs547.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2005.