KARACHI: Habib Bank Limited’s (HBL) profit fell 76 percent to Rs8.182 billion for the year ended December 31, 2017, absorbing the full-impact of Rs23 billion paid in settlement with a US financial department, analysts said on Monday.
“The earnings declined due to one-off penalty payment of Rs23 billion in the third quarter of the year under review,” Amreen Soorani, an analyst at JS Global Capital said. HBL reached an out of court settlement with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) of New York state to pay $225 million of fine on non-compliance with the regulatory provisions.
HBL recorded earnings per share (EPS) of Rs5.34 in 2017 as against Rs23.23 with profit of Rs34.2 billion in 2016, a notice to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) said. The bank declared a final cash dividend of Re1/share, which is in addition to interim dividend of Rs7/share already paid to the shareholders. The market reacted to below expectation earnings as the scrip closed 1.1 percent down on Monday.
HBL’s net interest income after provisions stood at Rs83.18 billion in 2017, up 2.4 percent compared with the income of Rs81.23 billion in the previous year. “Interest income was up due to the impact of asset growth,” Syavash Pahore, an analyst at Elixir Securities said. “We estimate that full year asset growth will be around 15 percent due to higher advances’ growth.”
The bank’s non-interest income amounted to Rs32.88 billion in 2017 compared with Rs31.43 billion in 2016. “Higher capital gains and a reversal booked for the year lent support to the bank’s earnings,” Samiullah Tariq, an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said. HBL recorded non-interest expense of Rs63.54 billion in 2017, up 13 percent year over year due to higher administrative expenses.
Pak Suzuki earns Rs3.82bln profit in 2017
Profit of Pak Suzuki Motor Company rose 40.7 percent to Rs3.82 billion for the year ended December 31, 2017, translating into EPS of Rs46.49, a bourse filing said.
Pak Suzuki recorded a profit of Rs2.7 billion with EPS of Rs33.69 in the previous year.
The automaker declared a final cash dividend of Rs18.60/share. Market cheered the earnings as the company’s share surged four percent at the bourse trading.
Analyst Hamdan Altaf at Taurus Securities said the automaker kept its payout above 40 percent in order to ease the tax burden.
Pak Suzuki’s annual sales amounted to Rs101.8 billion, up 33 percent over the preceding year.
Analyst Arslan Hanif at Arif Habib Limited said sales grew due to a 19 percent rise in sales to 130,813 units in 2017.
“Key revenue triggers have been WagonR sales going up 84 percent, arrival of new Cultus which captured buyers’ attention as 19,404 units were sold in the period and increase in car prices during the year,” Hanif added.
Altaf said margins fell 12 basis points year on year as steel prices rose 26 percent “despite higher average selling prices and depreciation of yen against rupee.
Dawood Hercules’ full year profit dips 80pc
Dawood Hercules Corporation’s profit decreased 80 percent to Rs16.24 billion for the year ended December 31, 2017, translating into EPS of Rs7.19.
Dawood Hercules recorded a profit of Rs73.43 billion with EPS of Rs53.12 in the previous year.
The company declared a final cash dividend of Rs2/share, which is in addition to interim dividend of Rs2/share already paid to the shareholders. Its share closed with a loss of 2.5 percent as earnings came below the market expectations.
The decline in profitability can be attributed to a 83.7 percent decline in other income to Rs11.18 billion in 2017 due to discontinued operations as compared to Rs68.8 billion in 2016.
Dawood’s net sales stood at Rs128.59 billion, down 18.25 percent over the preceding year.