KARACHI, Oct 28: Muslim Commercial Bank has decided to give an interim cash dividend of Rs2.50 per share to its shareholders based on the 9-month operational results of the bank.

A press release says the decision was taken at a meeting of the board of directors of the bank held in Lahore on Saturday. Chairman of the board Mian Muhammad Mansha presided over the meeting. MCB had announced Re1 per share interim bonus for its shareholders in April this year. Thus the bank has offered interim cash dividend and bonus of Rs3.50 per share to its shareholders so far this year.

The board was informed that in nine months to September 2002, MCB earned an operational after-tax profit of Rs1.24 billion up from Rs67.55bn in a year-ago period. The deposits of the bank as on Sept 30, 2002, rose to Rs175 billion from Rs154 billion a year before. Total net assets of the bank stood at Rs9.478bn as compared to Rs6.887bn a year ago.