Karachi - HBL on Friday declared a consolidated profit before tax of Rs46.4 billion for 9M’21, a growth of 8 percent over the same period last year. Profit after tax increased to Rs27.0 billion, with earnings per share increasing to Rs18.21 in 9M’21 compared to Rs17.17 in 9M’20. The bank declared an Interim Cash Dividend for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021 at Rs1.75/- per share i.e. 17.5 percent. This is in addition to the Interim Cash Dividend already paid at Rs3.5/- per share i.e. 35 percent.
HBL has the industry’s largest balance sheet which further increased to Rs4.1 trillion, in the nine months of 2021. This was achieved by continued strong growth in deposits, which increased by more than Rs330 billion (12pc) during 2021 to Rs3.2 trillion; the bank’s industry leading current account book exceeded Rs1.1 trillion. With HBL ready and willing to lend in support of economic growth, domestic advances continued to increase, rising by 9.0 percent over Dec’20 and surpassing Rs1.1 trillion. Our flagship consumer assets have continued their strong, well-managed growth and crossed Rs95 billion in the current quarter. With international franchises on a growth trajectory, HBL’s total advances increased by 12 percent over Dec’20, to Rs1.4 trillion.
HBL registered total revenue of Rs123 billion as the strong growth in fees and balance sheet volumes were able to offset the impact of industry-wide margin compression. The bank recorded a net interest income of Rs97.2 billion, driven by a Rs400 billion growth in average balance sheet volumes. Fee income showed an impressive growth of 34 percent to Rs17.9 billion, driven by stellar performance from the cards and consumer businesses and a strong growth in domestic trade volumes which surpassed the $10 billion mark for the first time.
Total expenses remained flat year-on-year despite the bank’s continued investment in technology and digital initiatives and in contributing to Pakistan’s economic growth and development. The bank’s cost to income ratio (excluding capital gains) thus reduced from 60.9 percent in 9M’20 to 57.7 percent in 9M’21.