National Bank’s full-year profit up 15 percent

KARACHI: The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) on Wednesday announced a net profit of Rs23.087 billion for the year ended December 31, 2016, showing a 15 percent growth as compared to Rs20.076 billion earned in 2015.

The earnings per share (EPS) for 2016 clocked in at Rs10.83 as against Rs9.42 in 2015. The bank also announced a final cash dividend of Rs7.5/share along with the corporate results.

The net interest income surged by 27 percent to Rs56.4 billion in 2016 as compared to Rs44.4 billion last year, the bank said in a statement issued to Pakistan Stock Exchange. 

The non-core income declined 11.3 percent to Rs31.032 billion in 2016 as against Rs34.99 billion in 2015.

Analyst Fawad Bashir at Arif Habib Limited said that non-core income declined 11 percent on yearly basis, but a rise of 45 percent on quarterly basis "with a stellar growth in fee income of 18.2 percent acted as a major contributor in driving the profitability on quarterly basis, while Rs2.613 billion worth of capital gains, recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016, gave further impetus."

“Operating expenses increased 10 percent led by higher administrative expenses owed to focus on betterment of the IT infrastructure, branch revamping and higher head count,” Bashir added.

Published in The News, February 23rd,2017