FNBB H1 profits down

First National Bank Botswana expects profits for interim period to December 2015 to be lower when compared to the previous corresponding period.
This is according to a statement submitted to the domestic bourse by Chairman Peter Stevenson and Chief Executive Steven Bogatsu.

Despite the expected fall in profits, the bank, which is a unit of FNB group in South Africa, has assured shareholders that its balance sheet remains strong. “The company continues to perform well, but not at historical levels,” stressed Stevenson and Bogatsu.

FNBB said the results show an upward trajectory. The leading lender, which has a market capitalisation of P9, 7 billion, made a profit of P343, 3 million for the interim period ending December 2014.

This represented a 5 percent fall in profits when compared to the same period in 2013. The results (H1: 2015) are expected on or before February 19, 2016. Like most commercial banks in the country, the bank has been hit by liquidity crisis, lower lending rate regime and slow growth in deposits from customers.

A moratorium placed by the central bank on upward adjustments of non-interested linked products and services has also affected banks’ profit margins.