Nairobi Securities Exchange listed financial services provider Housing Finance (HF) Group has registered a 24% decline in its full year 2016 after net profit to KSh. 905.8 million from KSh1.1 billion posted a year earlier.
The company said the drop in earnings was as a result of a 44% drop in property sales to KSh430.4 million adding that the operating environment was difficult.
Net interest income grew slightly to KSh.3.9 billion from KSh 3.6 billion recorded in 2015 while non-interest income dropped 35% to KSh 755.5 million from KShs. 1.17 billion the previous year.
Loans and advances to customers increased to KSh 54.5 billion up from KSh 53 billion as gross non-performing loans shot by 51% to KSh6.1 billion.
Customer deposits dropped to KShs.38.8 billion during the period under review compared to KShs.41.9 billion in 2015 saying this was attributed to adverse market conditions that saw a number of corporate depositors transfer their deposits to tier 1 Banks and Government securities.
The bank also announced that it was preparing to liquidate the 1st tranche of the bond issued in 2010 and has invested KShs. 4.1 billion in government securities. The balance will be raised through debt refinancing and enhanced collections.
Earnings per share dropped to KSh 2.59 during the period compared to KSh 3.43 in 2015 as the lender slashed its dividend payout to Ksh 0.50 per share from the previous year’s Ksh 1.30.
