Habib Bank’s fourth quarter profit rises 28 per cent

KARACHI: The Habib Bank Limited (HBL) on Friday announced profit-after-tax of Rs10.7 billion during the fourth quarter of the calendar year 2022, which is 28 per cent higher on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, a statement said.

However, the profit-after-tax declined 7 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said the jump in the earnings during the period under review was mainly led by higher net interest income. The bank announced a dividend/share of Rs1.5, taking the full-year dividend to Rs6.75/share.

The net interest income of the bank settled at Rs49.5 billion in the fourth quarter of CY22, increasing 45 per cent YoY and 18 per cent QoQ. With this, the total NII for CY22 went up to Rs165 billion, marking a 26 per cent YoY jump, while the interest expense of the bank in the period under review went up 120 per cent YoY, interest income too remained 83 per cent YoY higher, depicting asset-re-pricing impact in the outgoing quarter.

The non-markup and interest income depicted an increase of 5 per cent YoY to Rs11.1 billion during the fourth quarter of CY22, taking the total to Rs46.7 billion (29 per cent YoY up). This jump in CY22 is primarily due to a huge forex gains of Rs11.9 billion (+122 per cent YoY) on the back of the rupee depreciation.

In addition, the fee and commission income posted a 24 per cent YoY rise, clocking-in at Rs31.5 billion during CY22.

Further, the bank booked Rs866 million gain on security during CY22, compared with a loss of Rs545 million in the same period of the last year.

Provisioning for the bank clocked-in at Rs8.5 billion during CY22 (4QCY22: Rs4.9 billion), depicting a massive jump of 521 per cent on a QoQ basis.

The bank’s operating expenses increased 30 per cent YoY in CY22, clocking-in at Rs127 billion (4QCY22: Rs34 billion, +29 per cent YoY and 6 per cent QoQ).

With this, the cost and income stood at 56.6 per cent in the period under review against 59.3 per cent in the same period of the last year.

The effective tax rate was set at 49.7 per cent during the fourth quarter of CY22, compared with 46 per cent in the corresponding period of the last year.

Also Read

IWMI Pakistan organises consultative workshop on water issues

LAHORE: The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan organised a consultative workshop...