ISLAMABAD: The profit before taxation of Bank Alfalah was recorded at Rs14.045 billion during the calendar year 2017, showing 7.9 percent improvement when compared to the profit of Rs13.023 billion during 2016.
According to the press statement of the bank, the profit after tax also improved by 5.9 percent by going up from Rs7.900 billion last year to Rs8.367 billion during the CY 2017, adding that this translated into an EPS of Rs. 5.21 per share for 2017 against Rs. 4.93 per share in 2016.
Despite pressure on interest margins due to a consistent low interest rate environment and maturities of high yielding bonds, total revenue for the year increased to Rs39.174 billion as against Rs37.899 billion last year, improving by 3.4 percent.
Growth in overall average earning assets, reduction in funding costs, and continued focus on core fee and commission, all contributed to this growth.
During the year, the Bank continued with its focus on strategic cost control and optimization initiatives and went through an internal re-organisation, the cost of which has impacted the fourth quarter results.
In order to improve efficiency and to remove redundancies, processes were centralized, and branches where management felt prospects were limited, were closed.
Total non-mark up expenses were reported at Rs25.389 billion as against Rs23.692 billion last year, growing by 7.2 percent despite incurring significant non recurring cost.
With reversals against NPLs significantly in excess of the charge considered for the year, net reversals for the current year were recorded at Rs. 434.16 million, as against a charge of Rs1.083 billion considered last year, which further aided bottom line profitability.
