NIC Bank Kenya (NSE; NIC) became the first listed lender to publish its financial results for the first quarter of 2017 with profit after tax declining by 3.9% to Sh 952 Million compared to Sh 990.8 Million posted in the same period in 2016.
The dip was due to an 8.4% decline in net interest income which was reported at Sh 2.7 Billion from Sh 3.0 Billion posted in Q1 2016. Non-interest income also fell by 13.1% to Sh 989 Million while fees and commissions increased by 4.4% to Sh 336.7 Million.
Non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio improved to 6.7% compared to 7.3% in Q1 0f 2016 while staff costs increased by 12.4% to Sh 717.2 Million from Sh 637.8 Million.
Despite the decline in earnings, NIC’s loan book grew by 3.87% to Sh 116.32 Billion as the lender increased its holdings in Government securities by 23.23% to Sh 28 Billion. Customer deposits also grew by 6.81% to Sh 117 Billion.
Meanwhile, the bank also announced that it had completed its 9-month management tenure of the collapsed Imperial Bank. A total of Sh 10.78 Billion disbursed to more than 5,500 customers and Sh 5 Billion recovered from borrowers. No further details were given on whether they intend to acquire the bank.
