Business Desk :
Brac Bank reported Tk141 crore profit after excluding tax in the first quarter of the current year exhibiting 31% year on year growth.
Brac Bank disclosed the quarterly (January-March 2021) gains at a virtual earnings disclosure event held on Monday, reads a press release.
After experiencing the full brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020 and subsequent health and economic recovery during the latter half of 2020, the year 2021 saw a vibrant first three months in terms of economic activity picking up, reads the press statement.
The bank registered a Net Profit After-Tax (NPAT) of Tk141 crore with a year on year (YoY) growth of 31% on standalone basis and an NPAT of Tk109 crore with YoY growth of 44% on consolidated basis, i.e. with all its subsidiaries.
Earnings Per Share (EPS) stood at Tk1.06 on a standalone basis and Tk0.93 on a consolidated basis.
Meanwhile, customer deposits grew by 4% YoY while the CASA mix improved from 43% to 55% reflecting a successful deposit mobilization and interest rate management strategy.
BBL was very cautious in growing its customer loan portfolio in pandemic years with a 0.4% YoY net growth. While SME lending grew well at 18% YoY, retail lending picking up in Q1’21 and the bank was very selective in growing loans in the corporate, commercial business.
Compression in interest margin continued throughout the entire banking industry after the introduction of the lending rate cap at 9% in April 2020. Despite this, Brac Bank ended the first quarter with a spread of 4.8% with better Cost of Deposit Management.
The bank’s Treasury Division performed very strongly and helped recover most of the interest income lost from subdued customer lending and lower lending rates. Investment income from government securities more than doubled YoY during Q1’21.
Brac Bank’s stand-alone Cost to Income Ratio (CIR) improved by 6% YoY standing at 50% as at Q1’21, while the Consolidated Entities’ CIR stood at 65%, improving by 4% YoY.
In Q1’21, the Return on Equity (RoE) was 12.05% and Return on Assets (RoA) was 1.43% on a standalone basis. While the Return on Equity (RoE) was 10.22% and Return on Assets (RoA) was 1.09% on a consolidated basis.
The Bank’s Q1’21 Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio was 4.4%, up by 0.6% YoY, while the NPL coverage ratio improved to 119% to build a reserve against potential bad debt challenges arising out of the pandemic.
BBL reported a consolidated Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 15.12% for Q1’21 with 95% Tier-1 Capital, the highest Tier-1 capital ratio in the industry. The Bank’s standalone CAR, at 14.65%, is also well above the 12.5% regulatory requirements.
The net asset value (NAV) per share, as at March 2021, stood at Tk36.24 on a consolidated basis and at Tk35.04 on a standalone basis.
The virtual earning disclosure programme brought together many local and foreign investment analysts, portfolio managers and capital market experts and was also broadcast live on social media for overseas stakeholders.
Brac Bank’s Managing Director and CEO, Selim R. F. Hussain; DMD and Chief Financial Officer, M Masud Rana, FCA; DMD and Chief Operating Officer, Sabbir Hossain; DMD and Head of Corporate Banking, Tareq Refat Ullah Khan; and other Senior Business Heads presented the financial results, outlined the Bank’s strategy and conducted a Q&A session.
