Kenya’s NIC Bank has posted a 9.0% increase in Full Year 2015 profit after tax to KES 4.5 Billion from KES 4.1 Billion Posted the previous year.
The bank announced a final dividend of KES 1 per share after an interim dividend of KES 0.25 was declared in 2015.
- •Key highlights
Net Interest Income grew 21.8% to KES 9.7 Billion driven by a 24.1% increase in the bank’s interest income. This was driven by the bank’s increase in lending rates by 400bps during the year, growth in balance sheet deposits (+11.9%), borrowings (+6.9%), and investments in government securities by 66.0% from KES 16.5 Billion in 2014 to KES 25.0 Billion in 2015.
- •Non-funded income recorded a 12.9% improvement accounting for 29.0% of the total income.This was supported by income from trade finance (+9.0%), fee and commission income (20.4%), forex trading (25.3%), VISA card fees (31.0%) among others.
NOTE; NIC Bank’s NPL ratios are higher than the industry average, therefore attracting a loan book risk premium.
Share Price Movement
NIC counter is currently trading at a P/E ratio of 5.9x, P/B of 0.98x which is below the industry median P/E of 7.1x and P/B of about 1.5x.n.
Early Trading On Friday, NIC Bank was trading at 41.50, which is 18.57% above its 1-Year low of Ksh 35.
