SCOTIABANK JAMAICA, headed by managing director, William Clarke, has posted impressive financial results for the second quarter of 2004, driven by strong earnings.
Unaudited results show net profits of $1.62 billion, an increase of $545 million over the corresponding period for 2003 and $60 million below net profit for the quarter ended January 31, 2004. Net profit for the six months ended April 30, 2004 was $3.3 billion, compared with $2 billion for the previous year, an increase of 59 per cent.
Total revenue grew by 46 per cent last year to $8.7 billion. Net interest income was $7.4 billion up $2.5 billion or 53 per cent from last year.
INCREASE IN AVERAGE TOTAL EARNING ASSETS
Scotiabank attributes this growth to an increase in average total earning assets and improved yields year over year. Other revenue, excluding insurance premium income, was $1.16 billion, up $140 million when compared with last year. Insurance premium was driven by the performance of ScotiaMINT. It reported gross premium income of $2.3 billion for the period under review.
The loan loss provision amounted to $667, of which $369 million is specific and $298 million is general. As far as regulatory requirements are concerned, the loan loss provision comes to $1.47 billion, of which $733 million is specific and $741 million is general.
Non-performing loans at the end of the quarter was $958 million as compared to $950 million last year. This $958 million was $430 million below the $988 million as at January 31,2004. The Group's non-performing loans now represent 1.89 per cent of total loans and 0.59 per cent of total assets versus 2.04 per cent of total loans and 0.69 per cent of total assets at the end of the second quarter of 2003.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter were $1.11 compared to 74 cents for last year, and $1.15 at the end of the previous quarter. Return on average equity (ROE) for the quarter under review was 34.37 per cent. Year-to-date, EPS grew to $2.26 up from $1.42, while ROE was 35.80 per cent.
SECOND INTERIM DIVIDEND
The Board of Directors at its last meeting held last week, approved a second interim dividend of 45 cents per stock unit, payable on July 1,2004 to stockholders on record at June 10, 2004.
Speaking on these latest financial results, "Scotiabank Jamaica's managing director, William Clarke said: Scotiabank continues to deliver outstanding results which is a demonstration of the quality of our earnings and the ability of the business lines to deliver strong results in spite of the unstable market conditions.
"The significant reduction in market interest rates since the start of the year poses a challenge to maintaining the growth momentum experienced during previous quarters. Scotiabank is however, cognisant of this and is placing even more emphasis on expense control and stringent risk management in order to mitigate any adverse impact that may arise."
