KARACHI (February 20 2003) : The Picic Commercial Bank has posted after-tax profit of Rs 319.246 million for the year ended December 2002, announcing a 30 percent bonus share for the year.
Announcing the results at the board of directors meeting, President of Picic Commercial Bank, Mohammad Bilal Sheikh, said here that the bank has achieved a record breaking performance since it was taken over by Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation (Picic) in February 2001.
The Bank has also fulfilled the requirement of State Bank of Pakistan by increasing its paid up capital from Rs 500 million to Rs 1 billion during the period under review.
Bank's deposits have also gone up by 300 percent from Rs 5 billion in December 2000 to Rs 21 billion in December 2002 while its advances surged by 130 percent, rising from Rs 4.53 billion to Rs 11 billion in the same period.
Profit before tax went up by 335 percent during the last two years rising from Rs 57 million in 2000 to Rs 319 million in 2002.
Bilal said that the bank would increase its branch network to 64 by the end of December 2003 as SBP has granted permission to open 22 more branches.
He said that earning per share (EPS) of Picic Commercial Bank has also improved from Rs 1.14 to Rs 4.30 in the year 2002.
Similarly, the bank's ratings have improved to 'A' and 'A1' during the same period.
Referring to trade business, Sheikh said that this share has also increased from Rs 13.5 in 2000 to 31 billion in 2002, showing a rise of 127 percent.
He said that one of the more prominent features of the results is the decline of 50 percent in non-performing loans from Rs 886 million in 2000 to Rs 465 million in 2001.
