Meezan Bank profit for 2015 up by 10 percent

Pakistan’s first full service Islamic bank, Meezan Bank, posted earnings of Rs5 billion for the year ended 31^st December 2015, up 9.9% from the profit of Rs4.5 billion recorded in the preceding year. Along with the approval of financial accounts, the Board of Directors gave nodded distribution of 12.5 percent final dividend among the shareholders. This is in addition to an interim dividend of 17.5 percent paid earlier, taking the full year payment to 30 percent.

The increase in the bank's profitability is attributable to improved net spread after provisions. The net mark up income after provisions was stated at Rs17.6 billion, up 36.8% from a year ago. The expansion in its spread was mainly on the back of a significant increase in the profit earned on Islamic financing, investments and placements. It rose almost 15% YoY to Rs33.1 billion at the end of 2015. In contrast, other income of Meezan Bank registered a YoY decline in 2015, hurting its bottom line. It amounted to Rs4.6 billion, down 3.3% from a year ago. The major reason for the decrease in other income was the drop of 70.2% in the net gain on sale of securities in 2015. In addition, the bank's income from dealing in foreign currencies also decreased by 9.5% to Rs1.4 billion.