Corporate results: NBP’s profit rises 4% YoY

KARACHI:

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) posted a net profit of Rs3.15 billion for January-March, up 4% on a year-on-year basis.

According to a preview of the result issued by Global Securities, the increase in the net profit is due to a 19% decline in total provisioning expense, which came down by 85% to Rs802 million.

NBP’s core income suffered 2% on a yearly basis, and 13% on a quarterly basis, due to the industry-wide phenomenon of the rising cost of deposits, the preview said. “We believe that the increase in the cost of deposits has already been reflected through higher mark-up expense. However, the effect of loan re-pricing will be evident from the second quarter of 2014,” it said. It added that the subscription in Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) will also help the bank improve its core income and spreads going forward.

Alongside lower provisions, an increase of 8% in non-markup income also supported the bottom line of the bank, it noted.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2014.

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