KARACHI: The Board of Directors of Soneri Bank Limited, in their 198th meeting held in Karachi on 27th April 2023, approved the Bank’s condensed interim financial statements for the quarter ended 31 March 2023.

The Bank posted profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 2,694 million and profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1,489 million for the quarter ended March 2023, as compared to Rs 917 million and Rs 543 million respectively in the same period last year.

The Bank’s EPS was recorded at Rs 1.3506 per share for the current reporting quarter, as compared to Re 0.4921 for the comparative prior period indicating an impressive growth of 174.46 percent.

The Bank’s net interest income for the quarter improved significantly to Rs 4,839 million, growing by 68.10 percent against Rs 2,879 million reported for the same period last year, mainly due to improved yields.

Non-interest income for the period was reported at Rs 1,770 million as against Rs 841 million for the comparative prior period.

Growth in expenses was restricted at 25.31 percent as compared to the prior period with Non-markup expenses reported at Rs 3,497 million for the current quarter.

The bank’s deposits registered an increase of 8.14 percent when compared to 31 December 2022, ending at Rs 443,004 million at 31 March 2023. Period end CASA mix improved to 79.86 percent as against 79.19 percent at 31 December 2022.

More importantly, the Bank’s CA mix improved to 33.37 percent in March 2023 as against 32.73 percent at December 2022, with period end Current Accounts at Rs 147,828 million at 31 March 2023 as against Rs 134,080 million at the year end.

The Bank’s net advances portfolio stood at Rs. 173,798 million as at 31 March 2023, 16.62 percent lower than the year end 2022 level.

Net investments however, witnessed a volumetric increase of Rs.44,059 million or 17.08 percent from the year-end balance of Rs 258,007 million, ending at Rs. 302,066 million as at 31 March 2023.

The Board of Directors recognized and appreciated the efforts of the management in meeting most Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) amidst challenging times.

The Board expects that with continued efforts, the Bank would be able to deliver on its targeted KPIs over the course of the year.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023