Bangladesh Finance’s half-yearly profit upsurges 217%

In the first half of this year, Bangladesh Finance Limited's consolidated net profit increased by 217.83% year on year to Tk23.54 crore as the refocused non-bank financial institution (NBFI) significantly improved in all its indicators.

Its consolidated earnings per share increased to Tk1.17 for the January-June period, from Tk0.44 in the previous year's comparable period.

Thanks to its capital market businesses which significantly supplemented the profits from financing business.  

Md Kyser Hamid, managing director and chief executive officer of Bangladesh Finance, provided the information the first investor meet of the company on Monday.

"Our cost of deposit has reduced significantly in the first half of this year compared to the corresponding period a year ago, resulting in a 36.47% rise in net interest income," stated Hamid while speaking before the investors and stakeholders online.

"The half-yearly performance was further strengthened by a significant contribution from capital market investments. Our Commission, Exchange, and Brokerage income, on the other hand, has increased, which has a positive influence on our earnings," he added.

The NBFI with a massive shift in focus areas concentrated on customer deposits and gradually reduced its reliance on banks, he said.

"In comparison to December 2020, our client deposit has climbed to 61% of the entire deposit portfolio from 57%. Bank deposits, on the other hand, have been cut from 43% to 39% of the overall deposit portfolio," he went on to say.

Bangladesh Finance embraced its new motto "Reaching to The Roots" for business expansion among the grass root level customers across the country, gradually shifting away from large corporate customers. Information technology would be at the centre of its planned efficient expansion, according to Hamid.

Its standalone loan book now consists of 26% SME, 18% retail and 56% corporate loans and the share of retail and SME loans would keep increasing, said the CEO.  

The non-performing loan ratio is now 3.19%, down from 3.22% at the end of the previous year.

The consolidated Net Asset Value (NAV) per share of the company is Tk17.46, up from Tk16.85 at the end of the previous year. In comparison to 5.33% and 0.88% in the same time previous year, return on equity and return on assets were 15.46% and 2.76%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the company's stock price has risen dramatically, reaching Tk49.90 a share by the end of June 2021, compared to Tk7.90 at the same time the previous year.

Improvement in all the popular financial indicators that also include return on equity, return on assets helped the NBFI gain investors' confidence.

Bangladesh Finance, on the other hand, announced the formation of a new department called "Structured Finance," which they claim will provide a broader range of services such as bond placement, bridge financing, trade financing, issue management, and financial advising services.

Kyser Hamid also stated that the new journey and transformation of Bangladesh Finance, formerly known as BD Finance, will allow us to give more in the future to the people of Bangladesh.

"Our mnemonic "BIJOY" is built on these three pillars of trust, growth, and prosperity."

Bangladesh Finance is opting for bond issuance to extend and strengthen its books.

Its recent multifaceted agreement with US firm Sovereign Infrastructure Group (SIG) has opened windows to receive equity, low cost foreign currency loans from them on top of an understanding to let Bangladesh Finance work as a local partner of the investment firm for gigantic financing in infrastructure projects.

The foreign firm is going through many necessary documents sent by Bangladesh Finance, Hamid said in the investors meet programme.

Earlier while signing the agreement at the Bangladesh embassy in Washington DC a few months ago, Bangladesh Finance announced that SIG's total exposure in Bangladesh might surpass $2 billion if the collaboration works well, as the US firm has access to a large pool of investors in the US capital market.