Steady Course

Feb 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's NDB Bank profits grew 17 percent in the December quarter, and full year 2007 profits were also up, when a one-off capital gain in the previous year was discounted, the company said. Group revenues were up 23 percent to 10 billion rupees in the 12-months to December 2007, while profits were up 50 percent to 1.5 billion rupees when a billion rupee capital gain last year on a sale of insurance company shares were discounted.

"Overall, the core banking revenue (net interest income, forex and commissions) of NDB Bank grew at a strong pace of 25 percent based on a significant growth in loans of 16 percent and deposits of 21 percent over the last year," NDB said in a statement.

This year 384 million rupees came from equities.

For the December quarter group revenues grew 28 percent to 2.6 billion rupees while net profits were up 17 percent to 368 million rupees.

The company said net interest margins grew to 4.43 percent from 4.21 percent though return on assets fell to 1.62 percent from 1.76 percent.

The bank said it expanding its branch network which has now risen to 40 and was maintaining a strong balance sheet.

Group assets grew 17 percent to 76 billi