Commercial Bank sees steady rise with 9-month operating profit of Rs 13.119 bln
View(s):The Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC has reported profit before VAT and NBT of Rs. 13.119 billion for the nine months ended 30th September 2014, the bank said this week.
In spite of a healthy 10.38 per cent growth in Operating Income, Profit before tax grew by 7.77 per cent due to the imposition of Nation Building Tax (NBT) effective January this year, the bank said in a filing with the Colombo Stock Exchange.
Profit after tax improved by 7.89 per cent to Rs. 7.805 billion despite lower margins during the period under review resulting in gross income growing 2.14 per cent to Rs. 54.644 billion.
Commercial Bank Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe described the bank’s nine-month performance as “characteristically robust,” with higher business volumes compensating to some degree, for the reduced margins.
The bank’s Managing Director/CEO Jegan Durairatnam noted that momentum had picked up during the third quarter, during which pre and post-tax profit had grown by a healthy 21.62 per cent and 20.40 per cent respectively over the corresponding three months of 2013, to Rs. 4.739 billion and Rs. 3.326 billion.
Total deposits grew by Rs 53 billion or 11.75 per cent over the nine months at an average of almost Rs. 6 billion a month to Rs. 504.161 billion as at 30th September, 2014.
The bank has declared an interim dividend of Rs. 1.50 per share in respect of the period under review. The Commercial Bank share which traded as Rs. 155.90 (voting) and Rs. 113.90 (non-voting) at the end of the third quarter, traded at Rs 174.00 and Rs 118.50 respectively on 13th November 2014. Commercial Bank has the highest market capitalisation among companies in Sri Lanka’s financial services sector and ranks No.3rd among all listed companies.