Commercial Bank posts Rs. 4b net profit in 1H

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC. raising the performance bar reported profit before tax and financial VAT of Rs 6.528 billion for the half year ending June 30, 2011, a growth of 24 percent over the first half of 2010.

Profit after tax grew by 74.3 percent to cross Rs 4b for the first time in a six-month period, as both the loan book and business volumes witnessed strong growth and the Bank benefited from a reduction in the effective tax rate.

The Bank's profit before tax (after financial VAT) was up 42.8 percent to Rs 5.75b over the first half of the previous year, with the financial VAT component shrinking by Rs 458.7 m to Rs 778.7 m consequent to the reduction of the rate from 20 percent in 2010 to 12 per cent this year.