NBP’s profit doubles to Rs6.06bln in April-June

KARACHI: The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) on Friday reported a 117 percent jump in its net profit to Rs6.06 billion, translating into earnings per share (EPS) of Rs2.84 for the second quarter ended June 30.

For the same quarter a year ago, the NBP announced a net profit of Rs2.78 billion and EPS of Rs1.30 per share, said a notice issued to the Pakistan Stock Exchange. 

The bank did not announce any dividend.   “Outperformance in earnings was primarily attributable to robust operating performance with higher NII (net interest income) and lower provisioning expenses,” said analyst Ibad-ur-Rehman at Elixir Securities.

NBP’s interest earned revenue was recorded at Rs30.58 billion as compared to Rs28.36 billion. Despite a continued reduction in the discount rate during the period, the bank’s NII amounted to Rs15.94 billion as against Rs14.44 billion. 

“This was achieved because of an efficient assets-mix of high-yield loans and investments,” said a spokesman of the bank. Total non-markup income of the bank was posted at Rs8.27 billion in the quarter under review as compared to Rs8.79 billion in the comparable period. For the half-year ended June 30, the bank posted a net profit of Rs10.08 billion, up 47 percent over Rs6.87 billion in the same period last year.