Demerara Bank Limited (DBL) has registered an after tax profit of $1.7B for the year ended September 30, 2015, representing an increase of 1.7% over the previous year.
In its financial statements, published in the November 7th edition of Stabroek News, the 21-year-old DBL said that its profit before taxes for the year was $2.6B, which was an increase of 2.6% compared to the previous year. The after tax profit in 2014 was $1.67b.
The bank’s Chairman Yesu Persaud, in his review, said that Guyana’s economy is going through challenging times as a result of a sharp fall in commodity prices and that the coming financial year “may be very difficult for the economy and the financial sector.”
Interest income from loans and advances rose from $1.898B in 2014 to $2.174B this year. Investment income also increased from $1.363B in 2014 to $1.532B this year. Interest expense on savings deposits was up from $312M in 2014 to $320M this year and there was a significant rise in interest expense on term deposits from $226.6M in 2014 to $440.8M in 2015. Net interest income was interestingly less in 2015 than last year because of loan losses. In 2014, DBL recorded a net loan recovery of $183M, whereas in this period it suffered a $145M loss.
Other income of $662M this year, however, lifted the net interest and other income this year to $3.445B compared to $3.351B in 2014, when the other income was $467M. Non-interest expenses rose from $807.5M in 2014 to $846.1M this year. Taxa-tion climbed from $872M last year to $909M this year.
Loans and advances rose in value from $22.4B in 2014 to $23.6B this year.
The earnings per share in dollars appreciated from 3.71 in 2014 to 3.78 this year.
Persaud said that the Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of $0.70 per share, bringing the total annual dividend to $1 per share. This is subject to approval at its upcoming Annual General Meeting.
