LAHORE - The Bank Alfalah Limited Board of Directors held a meeting on Thursday to approve the bank’s half yearly un-audited financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2017.
The bank posted profit-before-tax of Rs8.470 billion for the half year, higher than the corresponding prior by 11.6 percent. Earnings per Share were reported at Rs3.04. The bank’s Net Interest Income after provisions improved by 5 percent to Rs14.956 billion, despite the consistently low interest rate regime and impact of maturities of high yielding government bonds affecting core revenues. This growth was also aided by improved recoveries in the current period against NPLs as the bank recorded a net reversal of Rs136.085 million against classified assets for the current half year as against a net charge of Rs408.462 million considered in the corresponding prior period.
The bank’s non-mark-up income also improved by 9.6 percent against the corresponding period, with core fee, commission and brokerage income, as well as foreign exchange income growing by 18.4 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively. Administrative Expenses grew moderately by 2.4 percent as all non-essential costs continued to remain in check. At the period end, the bank’s coverage ratio stands improved to 89.3 percent, whereas the NPL ratio has improved to 4.2 percent.
Total deposits at the period end were reported at Rs656.53 billion, improving by 2.43 percent from the yearend level. The bank has continued to focus strongly on re-profiling its deposit base, with current accounts registering a growth of 15.5 percent year-on-year, while fixed deposits were reduced by 16.6 percent year-on-year. In June 2017, the bank’s CASA mix stands improved at 82.9 percent.
Total assets were reported at Rs958.007 billion, improving by 4.4 percent against December 2016. With Gross Advances reported at Rs426.723 billion, the bank’s ADR stands at 65 percent.