Seylan Bank Q1 profits up by 59%

Seylan Bank said yesterday it has registered yet another impressive quarterly performance reporting a net profit-after-tax of Rs. 406.8 million (Group Rs. 412.5 million) in Q1 of 2012, as compared with Rs. 256.3 million (Group Rs. 249 million) last year.

The performance is a 59% and 66% increase in net profits for the bank and group respectively over the corresponding period last year.

Compared to Q1 of 2011, net interest income grew by 9% from Rs. 1,878.4 million to Rs. 2,047.3 million, while non-interest income increased by 6% from Rs. 576.6 million to Rs. 612.7 million. Total overhead costs were tightly controlled at Rs. 1,699.5 million, as opposed to Rs. 1,669.9 million in Q1 last year. Profit before tax was 60% above last year at Rs. 632.6 million.

In the quarter under review, strong and steady growth was evident in total loans and advances and customer deposits which grew by Rs. 8.4 billion and Rs. 4.2 billion respectively, which are growth rates of 28% and 14% (annualised) respectively. Total assets too increased from Rs. 165.9 billion to Rs. 173.2 billion as of end March 2012.

The first quarter results have enabled return on assets (before tax) to improve from 0.99% to 1.5% and return on equity to improve from 6.72% to 9.24% since year-end.