KARACHI, Aug 11: PICIC Commercial Bank has posted a record pre-tax profit of Rs556 million for the first half ended June 30, 2004, showing a rise of about 70 per cent over the same period last year.

The board of directors of the bank in its meeting with Manzoorul Haq in the chair here on Wednesday approved an interim dividend of 15 per cent for the period under review.

Mr Haq after attending the meeting said that the bank had concentrated on deposit mobilization which surged by Rs10.622 billion or 38 per cent during six months, raising the existing deposits to Rs38.299 billion at the end of June 30, 2004.

Our advances also grew by Rs10.525 billion or record 124 per cent to Rs18.979 billion, he noted. He pointed out that earning per share increased from Rs1.73 to Rs3.8 during the period under review while income surged to Rs1.3 billion.

He said that most of the targets were achieved and the board focused on core banking activities which included lending to SMEs, consumer banking, trade finance and deposit mobilization. -APP