PETER J. JULY, group chairman, RBTT Financial Holdings Ltd, announced on Monday pre-tax earnings of US$129 million, and profit attributable to shareholders for the nine months ended December 31, 2005 of US$105 million.
The latter represents an increase of US$10 million or 11 per cent over the comparable period in 2004. Fully diluted earnings per share also increased by 10 per cent, from US$0.28 to US$0.31.
Total assets increased by US$785 million, or 13 per cent, to US$7 billion during the nine month period, with loans and advances to customers growing by US$315 million, or 12 per cent, to US$3 billion, as the group continued to increase market share in its larger markets, he said. Investment securities also increased by US$354 million, or 18 per cent, to US$2.3 billion.
Asset growth was attained through strong, organic growth in all the jurisdictions in which the group operates.
IMPAIRMENT CHARGE
These results include a number of factors which impacted the second and third quarters. The most significant of these were an impairment charge of US$6.3 million arising from the restructuring of the Government of Grenada debt, and losses of US$7.4 million on structured products and other securities in their investment portfolios.
Retail and commercial banking, as well as trust and asset management business segments, achieved year on year growth in pre-tax earnings of 19 per cent and 37 per cent respectively.
Investment banking business, on the other hand, registered a decline in business volumes and profits over the prior year, as a result of changes in regional market conditions and narrowing spreads, as new entrants competed in the market.
"We have a positive outlook for the fourth quarter," Mr. July said. "We expect that the steps we are taking to solidify our position in the investment banking market will bring good results. We also expect the strong profit trend in the retail and commercial banking and asset management segments to continue as we upgrade our systems."
