Press Corporation plc has reported a 10 percent increase in group after-tax profit of K12.87 billion in the half-year ended June 30 2021 driven by good performance in National Bank of Malawi plc.
In a statement accompanying financial results jointly signed by PCL board chairperson Radson Mwadiwa and group chief executive officer George Partridge, PCL said its subsidiary NBM plc, continued to be the main driver of group results.
The statement said the Malawi Stock Exchange-listed bank delivered satisfactory results, which were driven by a 36 percent increase in net interest income and a 51 percent growth in non-interest income.
Reads the statement in part: “Similarly, the bank’s customer deposits and the loan book grew by 43 percent and 10 percent respectively while Treasury bills and Treasury notes grew by 49 percent.”
PCL said the results were, however, negatively impacted by a 41 percent and 26 percent increase in operating expenses and loan impairments respectively as the bank consolidated results from the newly-acquired Akiba Bank of Tanzania for the first time.
PCL said the performance was achieved against a background of a challenging operating environment characterised by severe foreign exchange shortages and the disruption from Covid-19 on the supply chain for most group companies.
“Prior year comparatives were restated to take into account value-added tax expenses relating to mobile money and airtime credit transactions.
“In the prior year, these were booked at year end, but they have now been reallocated to the period of occurrence,” reads the statement in part.
PCL directors have proposed to pay an interim dividend amounting to K721.53 million, representing K6 per share. This is a rise from last year’s K721 million, representing K6 per share.
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