Corporate result: Habib Metro Bank posts profit of Rs1.6b

Non-interest income clocked up at Rs2.2 billion, 22.5% higher

KARACHI: Habib Metro Bank posted a net profit of Rs1.6 billion in the January-March period of 2016, which is up 17.4% from a year ago, according to the bank’s quarterly financial accounts released on Friday.

The earnings announcement did not contain a cash dividend.

Habib Metro posted a net interest income (pre-provisioning) of almost Rs2.9 billion in Jan-Mar after declining 11.3% on a year-on-year basis.



The jump in earnings should be attributed to two factors: a sharp rise in non-interest income and lower provisioning expense compared to the same quarter of 2015.

Non-interest income clocked up at Rs2.2 billion, which is 22.5% higher than the figure recorded over the same three-month period of the last year.

As for provisioning, Habib Metro’s expense amounted to Rs418.4 million in Jan-Mar as opposed to Rs766.9 million in the first quarter of 2015. This translated into a decrease of 45.4% year on year, which partially contributed to bottom line growth in Jan-Mar despite a decline in net interest income.

The stock price of Habib Metro recorded a nominal change on Friday to close at Rs30 per share.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th,  2016.

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