By Siyanda Mthethwa
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South African lender Capitec Bank reported on Wednesday a 30% rise in annual profit as net interest income grew by double digits, sending its shares higher.
Capitec, one of the fastest growing South African banks targeting low-income earners, said that headline earnings – a key metric in South Africa – for the year ending February 28 rose to 13.7 billion rand ($738.14 million), compared to 10.6 billion rand a year ago.
The company’s shares were up more than 7% as of 0830 GMT.
The lender, which has 24 million clients, said net interest income – which represents the difference between earnings from loans and what banks pay on deposits – after credit impairments increased by 54% to 11.9 billion rand.
Net transaction and commission income, excluding value-added-services, increased by 17%, which was driven by increased volumes in card and electronic payments.
Capitec’s credit loss ratio – a measure of bad loans as a percentage of total loans – at group level decreased to 7.5% from 8.7%.
The lender declared a final dividend of 44.25 rand.
($1 = 18.5602 rand)
(Reporting by Siyanda Mthethwa; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Tomasz Janowski)
