The Board of Directors of Soneri Bank Limited, in their 190th meeting held on Thursday announced the Bank’s financial results for the year ended 31 December 2021.
The Bank posted profit before tax (PBT) of Rs. 5,149 million and profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 2,854 million in the year 2021, as compared to Rs. 4,035 million and Rs. 2,400 million respectively in 2020, reflecting an impressive growth of 27.62 percent and 18.91 percent respectively.
The Bank’s EPS was recorded at Rs. 2.59 per share for the current year, as compared to Rs. 2.18 for the comparative prior year. The impact of NIM compression was countered through volumetric increase on the balance sheet, with total assets remaining well above the half a trillion mark over the course of the year.
The Bank’s total revenue for the year was reported at Rs. 15,228 million, improving by 5.29 percent against Rs. 14,463 million reported for the last year. Growth in expenses was restricted at 12.90 percent as compared to the prior year, with Non-markup expenses reported at Rs. 10,191 million for the year ended 31 December 2021.
The Board of Directors has also recommended cash dividend for the year ended 31 December 2021 @ 15 percent i.e. Rs. 1.50 per share (2020: @ 12.50 percent i.e. Rs. 1.25 per share), subject to shareholders’ approval in the forthcoming AGM.
The Bank’s period end deposits, after witnessing a decline at June 2021 end, started picking up thereafter, and crossed the Rs. 400 Billion mark at the year end. An overall increase of Rs. 57,538 million or 16.65 percent was witnessed against the year-end 2020 position, with closing deposits reported at Rs. 403,037 million at 31 December 2021.
The period end CASA mix improved to 69.80 percent as against 68.65 percent on 31 December 2020 with total CASA improving to Rs. 281,311 million from Rs. 237,198 million at the end of 2020. More importantly, the Bank’s period end Current Accounts grew by Rs. 17,723 million or 19 percent year on year. The Bank continues to maintain its focus on CASA mix improvement and retention of current accounts, rationalizing of funding costs and improvement of overall margins.
