ComBank’s total assets top Rs. 300 bn in 1 H, ’09

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon Group has posted a turnover of Rs 22.051 billion in the six months ended June 30, 2009, recording a growth of 4.40 per cent.

In results released to the Colombo Stock Exchange this week, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, its subsidiaries and associates reported a profit before tax and financial VAT of Rs 4.520 billion, and profit before tax of Rs 3.440 billion.

Group Net profit after tax for the first half of 2009 surpassed the Rs. 2 billion mark to reach Rs 2.015 billion.

The Group’s non-interest income grew by 23.88 per cent to Rs.3.620 billion mainly as a result of the contribution from exchange profit, the Bank said.

This coupled with a growth in total assets which reached the Rs. 300 billion mark enabled the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC to post moderate results in the first six months of 2009.

The Group reported a foreign exchange profit of Rs.1.915 billion, an increase of 77.91 per cent over the Rs. 1.076 billion reported in the corresponding period in 2008.

In contrast, Other Income at Rs. 1.705 billion recorded a drop of 7.63 percent compared with the Rs.1.846 billion reported in the corresponding period of the last year due to the inclusion of the profit on the sale of Commercial Bank’s stake in the shares of Commercial Leasing Company PLC, one of the associate companies of the Group, under Other income recorded for the first half of last year.