Standard Bank awarded company of the year
Central African Stock Exchanges (Case) has given Standard Bank the 2012 Company of the Year award for its 100 percent profit in the 2012 financial year and the 60 percent increase in profit from the previous year, among others.
The award was given on Friday at the launch of the Case Handbook whose publication has been sponsored in Malawi by FMB.
A representative from Case, Jono Waters, indicated that usually the award is made on capital growth alone in response to good financial results or the anticipation of a good set of (financial results) as per Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) requirements.
He, however, said that only Old Mutual achieved a US dollar rise in 2012, entirely because the company is seen as a hedge against the macroeconomic climate, but among the domestic counters, Nico Holdings Limited put in the best performance in kwacha terms during the year at 30 percent, but went on to post financial year 2012 results that in kwacha terms were significantly below that of previous year.
“We decided to award the company that put in the next best share price gain – 22.1 percent for the following reasons: kwacha profits were up more than 100 percent, but more importantly this entity managed to report a 60 percent increase in attributable profit in 2012 to $23.64 million,” he said.
The bank’s dividend payouts during the year put the yield at 18.2 percent in dollar terms; its asset base grew 11.3 percent in the period, to $350.7 million.
