Corporate results: UBL earns Rs13 billion in Jan-Jun period

Up 15% due to healthy rise in net interest income

KARACHI: United Bank Limited (UBL) posted earnings of Rs13 billion in January-June 2015, up 15% from a year ago, mainly on the back of a healthy surge in its net interest income.

Financial results submitted to the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Thursday show UBL’s profit for the second quarter (April-June) remained Rs5.4 billion, down by one-fourth from the preceding quarter.

The bank’s earnings received a major hit in the April-June quarter because of a higher effective tax rate, analysts said.

According to Topline Securities, earnings in April-June declined 26% on a quarter-on-quarter basis and 6% on a year-on-year basis due to a higher effective tax rate that became effective in the quarter.

The effective tax rate in April-June increased to 50% from 33% in the preceding quarter after the imposition of a one-off super tax of 4% along with a 35% uniform tax rate on the bank’s all sources of income.

It said the impact of the tax can be analysed by looking at the pre-tax numbers: UBL’s profit before tax in April-June remained flat on a quarterly basis, but was up 34% on an annual basis.

UBL also announced an interim cash dividend of Rs3 per share, which is in addition to Rs3 per share dividend announced at the end of the first quarter.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th,  2015.

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