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| Tuesday, 18 May 2004 |
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ComBank pre tax profit grows 57% to Rs. 523.3 m in Q1 The Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd., has recorded a pre-tax profit of Rs 523.3 million for the first quarter of 2004, a growth of Rs 191.7 million or 57.81 per cent over the corresponding period last year. This impressive pre-tax profit was achieved despite providing for the special Value Added Tax which increased from 10 per cent to 15 per cent during the period under review. Post-tax profit of the Bank for the quarter ended March 31, 2004 amounted to Rs 341.3 million, a growth of Rs 117.7 million or 52.64 per cent. Commercial Bank's Deputy General Manager (Finance and Planning), Ranjith Samaranayake said the Bank achieved profit growths of over 50 per cent mainly due to significant growth in deposits, advances and assets. The contribution from low cost deposits in the deposit mix continued to improve by recording satisfactory growth Samaranayake said, adding that net interest income which is the bank's principal source of income, totalled Rs 1,087.2 million in the first quarter, representing a healthy growth of Rs 294.5 million or 37.15 per cent. Exchange profit recorded a growth of 84.49 per cent while other income recorded a growth of 42.35 per cent. Gross income of the Bank rose to Rs 2,750.3 million reflecting a substantial growth of Rs 713.3 million or 35 per cent. The newly acquired Bangladesh operations too made a significant contribution to these results, he said. Samaranayake said these results were achieved despite several constraints including the provision of Rs 187.5 million on account of possible loan losses compared to Rs 129.3 million provided in the first quarter of 2003. He said that the net charge to the income statement on account of loan loss provisions amounted to only Rs 102.6 million, as a result of releasing an excess provision against lease receivables amounting to Rs 84.9 million. This excess provision arose as a result of the Bank's decision to revise its provisioning policy on lease receivables in line with the accepted market practices. |
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