NCB Head Quarters in Kingston Jamaica.
NCB Financial Group recorded an increase of 17 percent in net profit of $11 billion for the six months ended March 2018 over the prior year, pretax profit for the six months was up just 1 percent.
Profit for the March quarter before taxation, rose a strong 22 percent over the similar quarter in 2017 to $8.26 billion but with taxation more than doubling profit after tax climbed just 9 percent to $6.4 billion.
Net operating income grew 22 percent to $35.3 billion over the prior year and 26 percent for the latest quarter. Improvements in foreign currency and investment activities 109 percent in the quarter to $4 billion and by 97 percent in the six months period to $7.2 billion. Net interest income increasing by $1.3 billion or 9 percent and was driven by the consolidation of Clarien Group (CGL). Net fee and commission income grew by 11 percent or $749 million, mainly as a result of higher transaction volumes for point of sale and e-commerce channels, increased investment banking and pension fee income and the consolidation of CGL. Operating Expenses excluding loan loss provision rose 30 percent to $24.5 billion for the half year and 29 percent to $11.5 billion for the quarter.
The Group’s loans and advances, net of provision for credit losses, increased by $127 billion or 61 percent to $334 billion to March. In addition to the consolidation of CGL, the president Patrick Hylton reported that “there was growth in all business segments’ loan portfolios: retail up 22 percent, corporate up 11 percent and credit card receivables up 25 percent. Nonperforming loans totalled $15 billion up from $5.9 billion at the end of March 2017.” The increase was due to the inclusion of CGL which has a non-performing loan ratio of 9.9 percent.
NCB declared a dividend of 70 cents stock unit. The dividend is payable on May 28, for stockholders on record at May 11. The stock closed at $95 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange before the results were released.
