Barclays Bank of Kenya has reported a profit after tax of Sh3.9 billion for the period ended 30th June 2019, a 2.6 per cent growth compared to a similar period last year.
The narrow growth in net profit from Ksh.3.8 billion in 2018 is attributable to additional investments under the lender’s ongoing transition process into the ABSA brand.
The lender incurred an additional Ksh.560.8 million towards the process bringing its net transition charge to the current Ksh.804.2 million.
The transitional costs, which the bank expects to remain a key feature in its balance sheet over the course of the next two years, persist even as the lender marks the completion of over two-thirds of the capital exhausting undertaking.
“Our transition journey to Absa has now gained momentum and is about 65% complete. We are making significant investments in technology, branch modernization and branding, which will ultimately enable us to give our customers a better banking experience,” Barclays Kenya Managing Director, Jeremy Awori, said.
Even so, the bank has handled the charge through internal operational cash flows having taken no new debt or additional funding from shareholders, maintaining its dividend per share payout (DPS) at Ksh.0.20 in the period.
In the 2018, Barclay’s customer loans were up 8 per cent to close at Sh176 billion, driven by Scheme Loans, General lending, trade and Mortgages.
During the same period, customer deposits grew by 15 per cent to Sh217 billion with transnational accounts constituting 66 per cent of the total deposits.
The Bank’s average loan loss ratio stood at 2 per cent from 1.7 per cent in 2017 while Net Non-Performing Loans ratio grew to 3.2 per cent from 2.3 per cent in 2017
The bank also launched Timiza, a mobile banking app, which has hit 2 million customers and was launched in April 2018.
