MEBL announced earnings (PAT) today for 4QCY23 at PKR 26.9bn (EPS: PKR 15.00), depicting an increase of 65% YoY | 4% QoQ (4QCY22 EPS: PKR 8.16). This jump in overall earnings was mainly on the back of growth in total income. MEBL announced a final dividend of a whopping PKR 8/share (CY23: PKR 20/share) along with the result.

Result Highlights       

•        Net Profit Earned by the bank clocked in at PKR 71.8bn during 4QCY23, increasing 61% YoY and 12% QoQ. With this, the total NPE for CY23 went up to PKR 226.5bn, marking an 86% YoY jump. Profit earned and expensed saw a jump of 86% YoY during CY23.

•        NFI depicted an increase of 77% YoY | 10% QoQ during 4QCY23, taking CY23’s total to PKR 24bn (+19% YoY). This jump in NFI during CY23 was primarily due to higher fees and commission income, which posted a jump of 33% YoY, clocking in at PKR 19.6bn. However, MEBL’s FX income declined by 14% YoY during the outgoing year. In addition, the bank posted a loss on securities of PKR 698mn as compared to a loss of PKR 100mn recorded in SPLY.

•        MEBL booked provisioning of PKR 2.9bn during 4QCY23 (4QCY22: PKR 2.4bn) depicting a jump of 20% on a YoY basis. This takes total provisioning to PKR 7.3bn during CY23 (CY22: PKR 4.2bn).

•        The bank’s OPEX increased 49% YoY in 4QCY23 clocking-in at PKR 21.4bn (4QCY22: PKR 14.3bn). With this, Cost/Income stood at 27% in 4QCY23 against 29.4% same period last year.

•        Effective tax rate was set at 52% during 4QCY23 compared to 49% SPLY. With this, the effective tax for CY23 stood at 50% (CY22: 49%).

Courtesy – AHL Research