Aug 13, 2013 (LBO) - Profits at Sri Lanka's Hatton National Bank rose 27 percent to 2.1 billion rupees in the June 2013 quarter from a year earlier, helped by higher net interest income and a one-off reversal in employee compensation. The bank’s gross non performing advances ratio stood at 4.55 percent at the end of six months compared with the 3.66 percent at the beginning. Return on assets has also fallen to 2.02 percent from 2.43 percent.
The group reported earnings of 5.40 rupees per share for the quarter, interim accounts showed. For the six months it reported earnings of 8.58 rupees per share on total profits of 3.4 billion rupees, which rose 14 percent.
"The market challenges that prevailed in the first quarter continued into the second quarter as well," HNB Chairperson Ranee Jayamaha said in a statement.
"Nevertheless we were able to record strong performance for the first six months of this year."
In the June quarter interest income rose 27 percent to 14.7 billion rupees and interest expenses rose at a faster 35 percent to 8.1 billion rupees, and the bank grew net interest income 19 percent to 6.61 billion rupees.
Fee and commission income rose 11 percent to 1.11 billion rupees while fee and
