Corporate results: UBL profits up 25%

KARACHI:

The profit for United Bank Limited (UBL) for the first nine months of 2014 increased to Rs17.1 billion, up 25% from earnings of Rs13.7 billion during the corresponding period previous year.

In its financial results sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Tuesday, UBL also announced an interim cash dividend of Rs2.5 per share in addition to the dividend of Rs5 per share already announced for the current financial year.

The bank’s net interest income (NII) for January-September increased 18.1% on a year-on-year basis to Rs33.6 billion. Although banking spreads averaged 6% in January-September against 6.3% in the same months of 2013, UBL’s NII received support from a higher yield on the increasing portfolio of Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) and rising credit growth, according to Topline Securities analyst Zeeshan Afzal.  Besides NII, provisions against non-performing loans (NPLs) declined 72.7% to Rs418 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2014.

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