NIB Bank Limited has posted strong results with a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 787.639 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2009 as compared to Rs 48.762 million earned in the corresponding period in 2008. The board of directors of the bank in its meeting held on Thursday declared that the bank's earning per share has increased to Re 0.21 in the period under review against Re 0.02 in the same period last year.
According to the financial results the bank's profit before tax has increased to Rs 1,166.341 million in this period against Rs 129.686 million in the same period a year back. The consolidated results include Rs 364 million as a share of profits from associated companies, driven by the recovery of equity prices during the quarter.
The mark-up earned by the NIB in the first quarter of 2009 at Rs 4.75 billion was Rs 1.3 billion higher than for the same quarter of 2008 while growth in mark-up expense was restricted to Rs 872.174 million at Rs 3,309.028 million in this quarter from Rs 2,436.854 million in the same quarter last year. Consequently, net mark-up income grew by Rs 404 million (40 percent) to Rs 1,441.578 million against Rs 1,037.472 million.
In the first quarter of 2009, fee income increased by 9 percent and trading gains on fixed income securities more than doubled, compared to the same period in 2008.
These helped to offset an expected reduction in other non-mark-up income such as dividends from subsidiaries. Growth in administrative expenses in this quarter was contained to 8 percent over the first quarter of 2008 despite the very high inflation levels during the period. The first quarter of 2009 results includes a net reversal of provisions of Rs 235 million achieved as a result of the bank's strategy of aggressively pursuing defaulting customers. Over the past six months NIB has placed strong focus and follow-up in this area as a result of which the bank expects to continue a strong recovery performance for the rest of the year and beyond.
The profit for this quarter includes a quarterly impairment charge of Rs 236 million in compliance with the State Bank of Pakistan 's Circular No 4 of 2009 which requires banks to record mark to market losses on equity securities held as Available for Sale and charge this amount to the profit and loss on a quarterly basis during 2009.
This charge was fully offset by a benefit of Rs 289 million taken on account of Forced Sale Value of collateral, in line with the SBP's BSD Circular No 2 of 2009.
NIB continues to grow its consumer, SME and small business segments, where the bank has added over 14,000 customers and disbursed new loans worth over Rs 3 billion during the quarter. The bank also maintains its momentum in growing the corporate banking segment where it expects to see increased activity this year.
NIB's plans for the year include further upgrades to its branch and technology infrastructure, the rollout of a new core banking system during the second quarter of 2009 and the launch of new products targeted at servicing the transactional and cash management needs of customers in the small and medium sized business segments.