National Bank pre-tax profit rises 10%
National Bank of Malawi (NBM), the Malawi stock Exchange (MSE)-listed financial institution, has posted a 10 percent pre-tax profit of K10 billion in the half year ended June 30 2014, from K9.2 billion the prior period.
According to unaudited results jointly signed by the bank’s chief executive officer George Partridge and board chairperson Mathews Chikaonda, the profit comes following deliberate steps taken by the bank to manage the growth of its lending book as the risk of bad debts increased, amid an uncertain operating environment.
“The operating environment was uncertain and subdued in the run up to the May tripartite elections. This had the adverse effect of dampening demand for some of the bank’s products. Consequently while the deposit book grew by 31 percent, loans and advances grew by 12 percent,” reads the statement in part.
According to the financial statement, the bank will pay interim dividend totalling K2.5 billion, representing K5.35 per share on September 5.
The bank said forecasts at mid-2014 still point to a reasonably good economic growth rate for the year, driven by agriculture, utilities, information, communication, construction, transport, storage and financial services.
