HBL profit falls to Rs34.206bln

KARACHI: The Habib Bank Limited (HBL) has announced a net profit of Rs34.206 billion for the year ended December 31, 2016, which is 2.55 percent lower than the earnings of Rs35.101 billion announced in 2015, a bourse filing said on Tuesday.

The earnings per share (EPS) for 2016 clocked in at Rs23.23 as compared to Rs23.93 last year. The bank also announced a final cash dividend of Rs3.5/share, which is in addition to the interim dividend of Rs10.5/share already paid to the shareholders.

HBL’s 2016 net interest income (NII) grew five percent to Rs81.23 billion as compared to Rs73.66 billion in 2015, while non-interest income posted a decline of 15 percent to Rs31.06 billion on higher base in gain on sale of securities during 2015.  However, the bank's fee income depicted a growth of nine percent to Rs18.65 billion.

HBL’s balance-sheet grew 13 percent over December 2015 to reach Rs2.5 trillion. Overall, the bank added Rs250 billion in deposits, while maintaining its CASA ratio. Current accounts increased more than 16 percent, reaching nearly Rs700 billion with the current account mix improving to 37 percent of the total deposits.