Most listed banks’ EPS up in H1

Most listed banks put up an impressive performance in the first half (H1) of 2022 thanks to rising demand for credits after the pandemic.

Out of 33 listed banks, 22 banks disclosed their half yearly earnings results. Of them, 11 banks posted higher earnings per share (EPS), two banks remained unchanged and nine banks witnessed negative earnings.

EPS is a company's net profit divided by the number of common shares it has outstanding.

However, most banks need to spend more on provisioning against their bad loans mostly caused by the Covid-19, putting pressure on their earnings per share.

However, the bad days during the crisis period are expected to be over in the next one to two years, according to bankers.

Mutual Trust Bank was at the top of the banks to report H1 results, posting a 56.20 per cent growth in earnings. Its EPS stood at Tk 1.50 for January-June 2022 as against Tk 0.96 in the same period a year ago.

“EPS has increased compared to the same period of last year due to increase of profit before provision. Net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) has been increased due to increase of gap between collection of deposits and fund and deployment of fund through advances over the same period of previous year,” said the bin in a filing with the Dhaka stock exchange on Sunday.

And IFIC Bank’s EPS stood at Tk 0.52 for January-June 2022 as against Tk 0.87 for January-June 2021.

IFIC Bank Company Secretary Md Mokammel Hoque told The Business Post, “Even though our bank's associate company was sold in Nepal, the money has not reached us yet.”

“Earnings per share must increase once the money is added to our account. We are expecting that the money will come this year,” he added.

During the period, IFIC bank’s net operating cash flow per share has increased due to rise in deposits significantly from customers as well as increased in interest income and investment income.

Shahjalal Islami Bank came second and its EPS stood at Tk 2.39, up 46.73per cent from Tk 1.64 during the period.

Improvement in EPS was also seen in H1 of 2022 by Uttara Bank Limited, Pubali Bank, Export Import (Exim) Bank of Bangladesh, Jamuna Bank, Dhaka Bank and Bank Asia.

Standard Bank, One Bank, Rupali Bank, BRAC Bank witnessed negative earnings per share during the period.