Corporate results: Allied Bank records healthy profit

Earnings per share increase to Rs6.2 in first half.

KARACHI: Allied Bank Limited (ABL) posted a profit after tax of Rs7.1 billion for the first six months of 2014, which is up by 28.4% from the comparable six-month period of 2013.

According to a notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Tuesday, ABL’s earnings per share for the Jan-Jun period increased to Rs6.2 from Rs4.83 a year ago.

The bank’s net mark-up income after provisions for the six-month period stood at Rs12.8 billion after increasing by 24% from Rs10.3 billion recorded for Jan-Jun 2013.

According to Iqbal Dinani of BMA Capital, the increase is primarily attributed to 67 basis points higher six-month Karachi Inter-bank Offer Rate (KIBOR) as well as increased PIB accretion during the first quarter of 2014.

The bank’s non-core income for Jan-Jun remained Rs6.1 billion, registering an increase of 25.7% over the last year when it totalled Rs4.9 billion.

Dinani says the substantial rise in ABL’s non-interest income during the six month period is on account of higher capital gains of Rs1.6 billion during the period. Capital gains stood at Rs786.1 million during Jan-Jun 2013.

Along with the result, the board also announced second interim cash dividend of Rs1.5 per share, bringing total dividend to Rs2.75 per share for the first six months of 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2014.

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