KCB grows profit to Ksh.25.2B as National Bank of Kenya returns Ksh.302M loss

The KCB Group has announced a 4.9 per cent growth in profit after tax for the period ending on December 31, 2019 to Ksh.25.2 billion.

KCB’s recently acquired subsidiary in the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) has however made strides in the opposite direction in the reporting a Ksh.302.3 million loss over the period from a narrow Ksh.7 million profit in 2018.

KCB higher earnings have continued to be supported by non-interest funded income (NFI) streams which grew by 22.8 percent to Ksh.28.2 billion on the back of higher fees and commissions on customer loans and advances.

Interest income meanwhile grew by 12.2 percent to Ksh.74.4 billion on the back of higher earnings from loan issuance and investments in government securities as issued loans topped Ksh.535.4 billion from Ksh.455.9 billion in 2018.

Customer deposits meanwhile grew to Ksh.686.6 billion from Ksh.537.5 billion.

Nevertheless KCB saw its operating expenses expand while the Group’s net non-performing loans took a turn for the worse ballooning up by 99.3 per cent to Ksh.28.7 billion.

The National Bank of Kenya (NBK) meanwhile returned to loss making announcing a Ksh.302.3 million loss on the back of higher costs and reduced transactions as customer loans and deposits shrunk to Ksh.45.9 billion and Ksh.86.9 billion respectively from Ksh.47.8 billion and Ksh.98.9 billion respectively.

NBK’s non-interest funded income meanwhile grew slightly by five percent to Ksh.2.1 billion on higher fees and commissions which surged to Ksh.147.5 million.

The recently bought out lender however incurred lesser exceptional charges to its balance sheet in comparison to 2018 as it further cut its net non-performing loans to Ksh.20.6 billion from Ksh.27 billion.

KCB Group has grown its earnings per share to Ksh.8.11 from Ksh.7.83 and retains a Ksh.3.50 pay out per share for the year.

KCB Chairman Andrew Kairu has termed the performance as resilient amidst a tough macro-economic environment.

“2019 proved to be tough but we have made significant strides. We saw tougher market conditions from geopolitical volatility. This year, the world is now grappling with the spread of the Coronavirus,” he said.

KCB Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara expects the lender to remain on a growth trajectory backed by its business diversification across economic sectors.

“There are concerns on sector growth but we see a niche in areas such as ICT and trade. We are positive on the future growth of our business,” he added.