KARACHI – The Board of Directors of Soneri Bank Limited, in their 172nd meeting held in Karachi on 24th October 2019, approved the Bank’s condensed interim financial statements for the nine months period ended 30 September 2019.
The Bank posted profit before tax (PBT) of Rs. 2,066 million and profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 1,211 million for the nine months period ended 30 September 2019, as compared to Rs. 2,167 million and Rs. 1,294 million respectively, posted in the same period last year. EPS for the period was reported at Rs. 1.0985 as against Rs. 1.1734 for the same period last year.
Net Interest Income (NII) for the period was reported at Rs. 5,967 million, improving by 19.32 percent year on year. The growth in net interest income was primarily due to improved volumes as well as spreads.
Non-Interest Income ended lower than the prior period, mainly due to the impact of losses incurred on the Capital markets portfolio, while fee and commission earnings, as well as foreign exchange income both improved by 17.05 percent and 5.99 percent respectively.
Growth in expenses was kept restricted at 11.60 percent, as compared to the prior period, with Non-markup expenses reported at Rs. 6,118 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2019.
The Bank’s net advances portfolio grew by 6.86 percent to Rs. 199,275 million over the nine months period. Non-performing loans decreased by 6.11 percent from Rs. 11,357 million on 31 December 2018 to Rs. 10,663 million on 30 September 2019. As a result, the Bank’s infection ratio has improved from 5.83 percent at 31 December 2018 to 5.15 percent at 30 September 2019, whereas the specific provision coverage at 30 September 2019 stands at 71.90 percent.
Net investments witnessed a significant volumetric increase of Rs. 64,312 million or 43.86 percent from the year-end balance of Rs. 146,645 million, ended at Rs. 210,957 million as at 30 September 2019.
Deposits registered a healthy growth of Rs. 18,184 million or 6.93 percent over the nine-month period, and were reported at Rs. 280,563 million as at 30 September 2019.
The Bank remains adequately capitalized, with CAR for September 2019, reported at 15.17 percent.