HBL reported its 3QCY23 earnings at PKR 16.6bn (EPS: PKR 11.34), showing an impressive 44% YoY and 28% QoQ increase. The YoY earnings’ increase was driven by the expansion of net interest income, while the QoQ growth in profitability was bolstered by reduced provisioning along with the NII increase. Along with the result, HBL declared a dividend of PKR 2.25/share for 3QCY23. With this, HBL recorded its highest-ever profitability (PAT) of PKR 43bn in 9MCY23, driven mainly by higher total income.

Result Highlights

• Interest earned by the bank settled at PKR 191bn during 3QCY23, increasing 57% YoY and 12% QoQ while interest expense was up by 59% YoY | 12% QoQ reaching PKR 125.8bn. With this, Net Interest Income of the bank clocked in at PKR 65bn in 3QCY23, up 54% YoY and 12% QoQ (9MCY23: PKR 178.9bn, +54% YoY).

• Non funded Income were up 9% YoY while down 16% QoQ taking 9MCY23’s total to PKR 37.1bn (9MCY22: PKR 35.6bn). This increase in NFI during 9MCY23 was mainly due to a higher Fee income of PKR 30.5bn (+34% YoY) and higher dividend income (+254% YoY). However, the FX income of the bank declined by 96% YoY to record at PKR 558mn during 9MCY23.

• During 3QCY23, the provisioning for the bank jumped on YoY basis, up 82% while posting a decline of 49% QoQ to PKR 1.4bn during 3QCY23.

• The bank’s OPEX increased by 38% YoY | 9% QoQ in 3QCY23 clocking in at PKR 44.6bn. With this, Cost/Income stood at 57.1% in 3QCY23 against 59.7% SPLY.

• Effective tax rate during 3QCY23 stood at 48.1% compared to 45.2% SPLY.

Recommendation

• Currently, we have a “BUY” call on the stock with a Jun’24 TP of PKR 123.4/share.

Courtesy – AHL Research