KARACHI: The Board of Directors of Bank Alfalah Limited in their meeting approved the quarterly un-audited financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2017.
The Bank posted Profit before tax of Rs. 4.290 Billion for the quarter, higher than the corresponding prior period by 13.1 percent.
A statement here on Tuesday said that the earnings per share were reported at Rs. 1.75 as against Rs. 1.55 posted for the previous corresponding period.
It said that despite the challenges that persisted due to a consistently low interest rate regime and comparatively lower yields on PIBs, the Bank managed to grow its Net Interest Income by 2.3 percent as against the corresponding prior period.
This was mainly attributable to volumetric growth as the Bank managed to grow its loan book by an impressive 16 percent, on a year on year basis.
The Bank’s Non-mark up income also improved by 8.4 percent, as against the corresponding quarter, with Core Fee, Commission and Brokerage income, as well as foreign exchange income growing by 24.3 percent and 24.8 percent respectively.
Improved recoveries against Non-Performing Loans, resulting from strong recovery efforts, led to a positive impact on net provisioning, which further aided bottom line profitability.
Administrative Expenses continued to be managed, reflecting a growth of less than 2 percent as against the prior corresponding period.
Total deposits were reported at Rs. 600 Billion, down by 6 percent from the year end December 2016 levels- reflecting the Bank’s continuing efforts to bring down high cost deposits, leading to an improved CASA mix of 85 percent at March 2017, as well as a reduction in the overall cost of funds.
With these levels, the Bank’s ADR stands improved to 66 percent. At March 31, 2017, the Bank’s Non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio stands at 4.65 percent, better than the industry average, while the Bank’s NPL coverage now stands improved at 88.3 percent.
