FNB touches N$20 bn assets

FNB Namibia expects earnings per share to increase when the company announces its results for the six months ended 31 December 2012.
The country’s biggest bank by assets says it expects earnings per share to be between 5% and 10% higher than the previous period while headline earnings per share are also expected to be between 10% and 15% higher than the previous period.
The results are expected to be published on 13 February 2013.
For the year ended 30 June 2012, headline earnings per share were up 6% to 203.1 cents while profit from continuing operations increased 16% to N$539 million at the back of satisfactory advances growth (13%), a continued reversal of bad debts and solid growth in non-interest revenue (22%).
Non-interest revenue grew to N$740 million while banking fee and commission income grew by 16% to N$630 million. The increase was attributed to growth in accounts and transaction volumes (there was a 73% growth in cellphone banking users) as well as annual price increases.
The group’s total assets increased to N$19.7 billion.
Gross average advances increased 11% year on year to N$13.4 billion with mortgage loans constituting an average 51% of the total loan book. The year to date ratio for non performing loans to average gross advances decreased from 1.7% last year to 1.2% attributed to the prevailing lower interest rates together with the benefits of a centralised credit collection team and sound lending policy.