LAHORE: MCB Bank Ltd announced financial results on Thursday declaring a profit-after-tax of Rs16.29 billion for the nine months ending Sept 30, up 13.8 per cent compared to Rs14.31bn during the corresponding period last year.

The bank recorded additional super tax at 4pc for the tax year 2018 as enacted through the Second Supplementary Finance Act, 2019. Effective tax rate for the nine months ended Sept 30 came at 41pc, up 2pc from the corresponding period last year.

The bank’s earnings per share also increased to Rs13.74 from Rs12.08, according to the unconsolidated interim financial statement for the nine months.

The board approved a cash dividend of Rs4 per share or 40pc, bringing the total cash dividend for the nine months ending September to 120pc.

The bank’s profits increased on the back of uptick in net interest margins through gradual shift in the maturity profiling of investment base along with an efficient cost base.

Net interest income increased to Rs42.99bn, or up by 27pc. Volumetric growth in average earning assets, particularly investments, along with effective mix of shorter maturity earning assets in a rising interest rate scenario enabled the bank to post growth in gross mark-up income of Rs39.52bn, up 67pc over last year.

ABL reports Rs9.6bn profit

Allied Bank Ltd posted profit-after-tax of Rs9.6bn for the nine months of the calendar year 2019.

The profit declined by 5pc compared to the corresponding period last year; however, the profit-after-tax for third quarter increased by 19pc to Rs3.395bn compared to the same quarter of last fiscal year.

The bank’s EPS rose at Rs8.42 and announced a cash dividend of Rs2 per share leading to the total payout of Rs6 for 9MCY19. The bank’s net interest income settled at Rs28.8bn for 9MCY19, increasing 22pc year-on-year while increasing 10pc quarter-to-quarter basis.

Lotte declares Rs1.5 cash dividend

Lotte Chemical, announcing financial results for the nine months, declared profit-after-tax of Rs4.73bn, up 40pc compared to Rs3.40bn during the same period last year.

The increase in bottom-line came after the company’s other income increased by a massive 136pc to Rs799.53 million. Lotte’s EPS clocked in at Rs3.13 per share from Rs2.25 while the company also declared a cash dividend of Rs1.5 or 15pc.

FNEL returns to black

First National Equities Limited (FNEL) has announced profit-after-tax of Rs497.90 million for the year ended June 30, compared with a loss of Rs154m in the previous year.

The company’s profits came on the back of pretax fair value measurement gain of Rs637m on a strategic investment. However, excluding gains from this investment, the company’s after-tax loss stood at Rs139.1m, down from Rs174.8m in the year ending June 30, 2018.

The company’s EPS improved to Rs1.86 per share last year from negative Rs0.88 per share.

Abbott profit falls 63pc

For the nine-months ended Sept 30, Abbott Ltd declared profit-after-tax at Rs772m, resulting in earnings per share at Rs7.89, which was sharply down from PAT at Rs2.07bn and EPS at Rs21.15 in the similar period the previous year. This was despite the growth in net sales to Rs22.3bn, from Rs21.6bn in nine months of 2018.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2019