Equity full-year net profit up 10.8pc on interest income
Equity Bank branch on Kimathi Street, Nairobi County.
Equity Group reported a 10.8 percent increase in net profit to Sh46.5 billion for the year ended December 2024, fueled by growth in non-interest income and a cut in provisions for bad loans.
The bank also increased its dividend to Sh4.25 per share from Sh4 in 2023. The total payout rises to Sh16 billion from Sh15.06 billion previously.
Equity slashed its loan loss provision by 43.3 percent or Sh15.4 billion to Sh20.2 billion, largely on the Kenyan bank operation, even as its stock of gross non-performing loans went up, by 6.5 percent to Sh122 billion.
Non-funded income went up by 10.6 percent to Sh85.07 billion, while net interest income was up 3.7 percent to Sh108.7 billion.
The lender’s net interest income was hit by a 20.3 percent jump in interest expenses to Sh61.6 billion, largely on account of paying higher interest rates on customer deposits in Kenya.
Regional subsidiaries performed better than the Kenyan unit in terms of profit growth, raising their share of net profit to 50 percent from 41 percent in 2023.
Equity Bank Kenya’s net profit dropped by 9.7 percent to Sh24.1 billion, from Sh26.7 billion in 2023.
The unit saw a decline in both net interest income and non-funded income in the period, by 1.2 percent and 0.9 percent to Sh56.5 billion and Sh32.8 billion, respectively.
The Kenyan bank was weighed down by a 54 percent jump in interest expenses on customer loans to Sh39.9 billion.
cmwaniki@ke.nationmedia.com