Seylan's after tax profits reach Rs. 627.08 m in 3Q

Seylan Bank recorded a net profit after tax of Rs. 627.08 million during the nine months period ended September 30. 2006, up 5.36% from the previous year's figure of Rs. 595.20 million. The Seylan Group's net profit after tax and minority interest too increased to Rs. 660.83 million for the period under review. growing at 4.10% over the figure achieved in 2005.

The growth achieved during the past nine months is attributed to the bank's success in achieving growth in core banking activities. The main impetus to growth has come from an expansion in its Net Loan and Advances portfolio which increased to Rs. 91.9 billion, growing at 12.83% for the nine -month period.

An analysis of the Bank's financial results showed a growth of 18.5% in the Bank's net interest income (Nll) with the figure at 4.43 Billion up from the previous year Rs. 3.74 billion, thus indicating the positive impact of the growth in the loan book.

As a result of the management's continuous focus on recovery, the bad, and Doubtful Debt written back increased significantly from Rs. 296.70 million to Rs. 404.77 million indicating a growth of 36.42.

When analysing the operating profit before Taxes, it is evident that there is a significant surge in growth of 34.97% achieving Rs. 1.35 billion up from Rs. 1.004 billion recorded during the corresponding period last year.

However, due to a sharp rise in taxation of both VAT on financial services and corporate taxes compared to the previous year has resulted in the marginal growth in net profits of the Bank. The taxes in total amounted to Rs. 728.5 million and were almost 53.74% of the operating profit before taxes.