ABL profit surges to 41.3bn, marking a 94% increase year-on-year

Allied Bank Limited (ABL) has reported a significant year-on-year growth in its financial performance for the year 2023.

The bank's profit after tax surged to Rs41.3 billion, marking a 94.38% increase from the Rs21.25 billion recorded in 2022. This was disclosed in the Financial Results sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday (today).

This translates to an earnings per share (EPS) of Rs36.07, up from Rs18.56 in the previous year.

In response to the robust financial results, the Board of Directors at ABL has recommended a final cash dividend of Rs4 per share, which amounts to 40%.

This comes in addition to the interim dividends already distributed at Rs8 per share, totaling an 80% dividend payout for the year.

A key driver of ABL's impressive performance has been its net interest income (NII), which rose by 69.26% year-on-year to Rs112.9 billion, up from Rs66.7 billion.

This increase is largely attributed to a 65.7% rise in interest-earning to Rs357 billion.

The bank also experienced growth in its total non-markup income, which increased by 19.33% to Rs25.6 billion.

This was buoyed by a significant 32.3% increase in fee, commission, and brokerage income, reaching Rs11.8 billion.

Additionally, dividend income and foreign exchange income saw increases of 14.8% and 15.3%, reaching Rs3.5 billion and Rs9.2 billion, respectively.

However, ABL reported a 39.7% decrease in gains from the sale of securities, which stood at Rs844.8 million for the year.

Meanwhile, the bank also reported a provision reversal of Rs2.98 billion in 2023, a positive shift from the provision expense of Rs260.9 million in 2022.

On the expenditure side, total non-markup expenses rose by 19.5% to Rs49.7 billion in 2023, from Rs41.6 billion in the preceding year.

This increase was primarily due to an 18.5% rise in operating expenses, which climbed to Rs47.7 billion.

Additionally, contributions to the Workers' Welfare Fund were also higher during the year.

In terms of taxation, ABL's tax payments witnessed a significant increase, totaling Rs45.5 billion, which is 78.2% higher than the previous year's payments.