KCB group first half profit surges to 5%

Bloomberg

KCB Group Ltd. first-half profit jumped 5% as the East African nation’s largest lender earned more interest income from investing in government securities and providing business loans.
Net income in the six months through June was 12.7 billion shilling ($123 million), Chief Finance Officer Lawrence Kimathi told investors. That matched estimates by African Alliance
Securities Kenya.
Net interest income increased 5.4% to 25.4 billion shillings even after the lender put aside 3 billion shillings in provisions for loan losses, compared with 800 million shillings a year earlier. Growth in credit was partly driven by the lender’s mobile loans platform.
Lending to the private sector has picked up since a high court annulled a law capping interest rates in March, and despite some lawmakers fighting to still have the legislation in place.
KCB said it still plans to conclude the acquisition of National Bank of Kenya next month despite recommendations by a lawmakers’ committee to stop the deal on concern that it undervalued the state-controlled lender.
The bank is ready to make deals to be the top bank in its selected markets as growing existing operations won’t be enough, said Chairman Andrew Kairu.
“In any market you’re in, if you’re not dominant, it doesn’t make any sense being there,” Kairu said.

“There’s a lot of potential, and we can grow through mergers and acquisitions, so we are looking out for potential targets that have a strategic fit,” he said, without giving further details.