
COLOMBO :
Amãna Bank continued its strong financial performance as it closed the 9 months ending 30 September 2024 with a Profit Before Tax of LKR 1.98 billion, reflecting a 18% YoY increase compared to LKR 1.68 billion recorded for the corresponding period of 2023. Showcasing a 26% YoY growth, Profit After Tax grew from LKR 891 million to cross the LKR 1 billion mark andclose at LKR 1.12 billion.
With financing rates declining across the banking industry in a bid to spur economic growth, the Bank’s financing income closed at LKR 11.70 billion. However, by maintaining a strong financing margin of 4.1%, the Bank posted a Net Financing Income growth of 6% YoY to reach LKR 5.13 billion compared with LKR 4.85 billion posted in the corresponding period in 2023.
The Bank’s Total Operating income stood at LKR 6.50 billion, marginally lower by 4% from last year. With a robust recovery mechanism in place and renewed customer engagement, the Bank was able to reduce its impairment charges by 73%, due to which Net Operating Income improved by 16% YoY to close at LKR 6.11 billion. Despite increase in Operating Expenses, the Bank continued to maintain a healthy cost to income ratio of 53%, resulting in a 6% YoY growth in Operating Profit before VAT on Financial Services to post LKR 2.69 billion. The Bank’s aggregate tax contribution of approx. LKR 1.57 billion accounted for a significant 58% of the Bank’s Operating Profit before all taxes. The Total Comprehensive Income for the period was LKR 1.10 billion, reflecting a healthy YoY growth of 24%.
Following the increased acceptance for non-interest based banking, the Bank’s advances and deposits portfolios grew significantly during the 9 months ending 30 September 2024. Promoting its development focused banking approach, customer advances grew by 16% or LKR 15 billion to surpass the LKR 100 billion milestone to post LKR 104.42 billion whilst maintain an industry low Stage 3 Impairment ratio of 1.4%. Posting a healthy 9 month growth of 10%, customer deposits closed the 3rd quarter at LKR 145.72 billion, with a strong CASA ratio of 42.3% setting an industry benchmark. The Bank’s Total Assets stood at LKR 172.52 billion whereas Net Asset Value per Share improved to LKR 41.40. Given the robust performance during the nine months, the Bank’s ROE and ROA stood at 6.7% and 1.6% respectively. As at 30 September 2024, Amãna Bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 and Total Capital ratios stood at 15.5% and 18.1% respectively, well above the regulatory minimum requirement of 7% and 12.5%.
During the third quarter Fitch Ratings Sri Lanka upgraded Amãna Bank’s national long-term rating from BB+(lka) to an investment grade rating of BBB-(lka), with a stable outlook, opening up multiple opportunities for growth and expansion. The Bank also recently declared its 7th consecutive dividend, being the highest ever dividend payout so far totalling LKR 661 million which marks a doubling of the dividend paid in 2023.