Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Sluggish growth at ABL, as bank continues to lose market share

In a record-breaking year for the banking sector, ABL’s revenue growth has barely beaten inflation

Allied Bank Ltd (ABL) has posted another set of soft results, reinforcing the sense that a lender once counted among Pakistan’s “Big Five” is now struggling to keep up in a banking market that – at least for most large players – has been defined by boom-time revenues and outsized profitability.

In the three months ended September 2025 (3QCY25), ABL reported consolidated earnings per share of Rs7.71, down 29% from Rs10.84 in the same quarter last year. That translates into profit after tax of Rs8.8 billion, versus Rs12.4 billion a year earlier. Despite the earnings drop, the bank held its quarterly payout steady, declaring a Rs4 per share dividend – unchanged from 3QCY24.

The top line also moved in the wrong direction. Total income for the quarter fell to Rs35.0 billion, down 11% from Rs39.1 billion, as net mark-up/interest income declined 15% year-on-year (from Rs31.7 billion to Rs27.0 billion).

That quarterly contraction matters because it lands at a moment when investors have been conditioned to expect banks to defend earnings – through balance-sheet positioning, fee growth, or cost discipline – even as the interest-rate cycle shifts. Instead, ABL’s most recent numbers show a bank absorbing the downside of an easing-and-repricing environment without a compensating uplift elsewhere.

On a full-year basis, the story is only marginally better. In calendar year 2024 (CY24), ABL’s total income rose to Rs146.5 billion, up 5% from Rs139.5 billion in CY23. Profit after tax increased 7% to Rs44.4 billion, while earnings per share rose to Rs38.77 and the dividend per share increased to Rs16 (from Rs12 the year before).

But those nominal gains look thin once compared to inflation.

 

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