KARACHI: Habib Bank Ltd’s consolidated after-tax profit remained flat at Rs25.75 billion during the first nine months of 2016 compared to Rs25.72bn a year earlier.

Earnings per share stood at Rs17.47, the bank said in a statement.

The bank also declared a third-quarter dividend of Rs3.5 per share (35 per cent). The HBL’s balance sheet has grown by 7pc over December 2015 to reach Rs2.4 trillion.

Average current accounts for the nine-month period under review rose 19pc year-on-year, enabling HBL to reduce its cost of domestic deposits. With average domestic loans also growing across all segments, the bank was able to grow net interest income by 7pc to Rs62.2bn.

Fees and commissions continued their growth trajectory, rising by 18pc to Rs13.7bn. With enhanced recoveries, the bank was able to reduce provisions by 58pc compared to the first nine months of 2015 while growth in administrative expenses was restricted to 10pc over the same period of2015.

The non-performing loans coverage ratio improved over the previous quarter to reach 90pc as of Sept 30, 2016.

Bank Al-Habib

Bank Al-Habib Ltd announced its third-quarter consolidated earnings dropped to Rs1.7bn from Rs1.9bn a year earlier. Earnings per share fell to Rs1.5 from Rs1.8.

However, “the results remained higher than market expectations,” said a research report of Topline Securities.

Net interest income (NII) of the bank was down 6pc on a year-on-year basis to Rs5.9bn in the quarter. “Despite this decline, NII remained in line with our estimate as a large chunk of high-yielding Pakistan Investment Bond matured in the third quarter of 2016 and they were reinvested at lower rates,” said the research report.

Non-interest income of the bank was up 12pc year-on-year to Rs982 million, led by increase in fee, commission and brokerage income. Non-interest expense was up 14pc to Rs4.4bn.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2016