The 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Meezan Bank Limited was held at a hotel here on Monday. The shareholders approved 15 percent bonus shares for the year 2010 continuing the bank's unbroken payout record since the bank's date of listing on Karachi Stock Exchange. This will increase the Bank's paid up capital to Rs 8 billion.
Accordingly, the Bank will meet State Bank of Pakistan's minimum capital requirement for 2011 of Rs 8 billion a year in advance. Irfan Siddiqui, President and CEO chaired the meeting that was attended by Ariful Islam (Chief Operating Officer), Shabbir Hamza Khandwala (Chief Financial Officer), Tasnimul Haq Farooqul (Company Secretary), Syed Najmul Hussain (Partner, External Auditors - KPMG Taseer Hadi & Co) and other shareholders of Meezan Bank Limited. Representatives of major shareholders of Meezan Bank, Noor Financial Investment Company, Kuwait, Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (Pvt) Limited and Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, were also present.
Irfan Siddiqui informed the shareholders that Meezan Bank recorded 61 percent growth in its post-tax profit for 2010. The profit after tax for 2010 increased to Rs 1,650 million compared to Rs 1,025 million in the previous year. Earnings per share (EPS) for the year increased to Rs 2.36 as compared to Rs 1.62 in last year. The performance of the Bank remained outstanding in all the areas of its business activities especially deposits that grew by 31 percent from Rs 100 billion in December 2009 to Rs 131 billion as at December 2010.
The growth in deposits is directly attributable to the aggressive branch expansion plan initiated since 2008 and an effective direct sales strategy implemented by the Bank. The Bank now operates with a network of 222 branches spread across 53 cities of Pakistan. A number of shareholders appreciated the strong performance by the Bank especially relative to other banks. The members approved the annual audited accounts and consolidated audited accounts for the year ended December 31, 2010 and acknowledged the good performance of the Bank.-PR