Nov 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Nation’s Trust Bank, a unit of John Keells Holdings said net profits grew 28 percent to 173.9 million rupees in the September 2009 quarter from a year earlier, while revenues fell 3.0 percent to 3.5 billion rupees. Interest income fell 4.0 percent to 2.97 billion rupees, interest expenses fell at a faster 14 percent to 2.0 billion rupees allowing net interest income to grow by a strong 32.0 percent to 944.4 million rupees.
The bank said it core banking business was strong.
Fee income rose 4.0 percent to 539.3 million rupees, despite lower foreign exchange income of 50 million rupees.
“A managed slowdown in trading activities resulted in a decrease in foreign exchange income for the quarter,” the bank said.
Loan loss provisions increased to 177.3 million rupees from 104.1 million rupees.
The bank’s loan portfolio fell 4.0 percent to 38.4 billion rupees from the beginning of the year. Non performing loans grew to 3.59 billion from 2.4 billion at the beginning of the year.
Deposits grew to 44.0 billion rupees from 34.3 billion rupees from the beginning of the year. Gross assets grew 6.0 percent to 71.5 billion rupees. Net assets grew to 4.5 billion rupees from 4.3 billion at the beginni