MCB Bank earns Rs13.5 billion in first half

Result marginally lower than expected because of higher taxation expense

KARACHI: MCB Bank has announced that its consolidated earnings stood at Rs13.5 billion in the first six months of 2015, up 14.1% from last year.

In its financial accounts for the half year released on Tuesday, MCB Bank reported a net profit of Rs5.4 billion in the second quarter (April-June), which reflects a year-on-year decrease of 11.1%.

On a sequential basis, however, the quarterly decrease in MCB Bank’s profitability was more pronounced, as its earnings plunged almost 30% in the April-June period.

According to AKD Securities research analyst Zoya Ahmed, the half-yearly result is marginally lower than expected because of a higher-than-expected taxation expense.

Read: MCB Bank’s profit surges 43.5%

“The sequential downturn in profitability was primarily on account of higher tax incidence post-budget,” she said, adding the effective tax rate during the second quarter of 2015 was 55% versus 34% recorded in January to March.

Net interest income, or core income, surged 15.9% in the six-month period to Rs24.9 billion. An exceptional growth in capital gains and dividend income pushed up non-interest income by 68.7% to Rs9.4 billion in the period under review.



There was also a surprising jump of 5.8 times in other income in the second quarter, which provided support to the bank’s bottom line. MCB Bank also announced an interim dividend of Rs4 per share, which takes the total payout so far in 2015 to Rs8 per share.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th,  2015.

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