KARACHI: The Bank of Punjab (BoP) posted consolidated profit after tax (PTA) of Rs7.621 billion and earnings per share at Rs2.85 for the year ended Dec 31, 2018.

This performance was compared to a loss of Rs3.317bn and loss per share of Rs1.65 in 2017. The board also recommended a cash dividend of 7.5 per cent.

While approving annual financial statements of the Bank, the Board announced and recommended a cash dividend of 7.5 per cent for shareholders for the year 2018, after a period of 10 years. The decision of fully providing against legacy nonperforming loans (NPLs), earlier covered through Letters of Comfort (LoCs) issued by the Punjab government, as of Dec 31, 2017 and improved financial performance of the bank during the year 2018 enabled it to remain compliant with SBP’s capital and provisioning requirements and paved the way for dividend payouts to shareholders.

While further accelerating the growth trends and achieving set business targets, during the year 2018, Net Interest Margin (NIM) of the bank improved significantly to Rs20.1bn as against Rs15.6bn during last year thereby reflecting a phenomenal growth of 29 per cent.

BoP’s non-markup/interest income remained at the level of Rs3.7bn Accordingly, the bank earned before tax profit of Rs12.2bn as against loss of Rs4.7bn for last year. Further, Earnings Per Share (EPS) remained at Rs.2.86 per share.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2019