Diversified financial services institution, the Capricorn Group Ltd (Capricon), says profit after tax from continuing operations increased by 23.8% to N$580.5 million in the interim period ended 31 December 2021.
The group’s headline earnings per share increased by 34.5% y/y to 102.9 cps for the period under review, while net interest income increased by N$53.4 million to N$1.14 billion.
At the same time, Capricorn’s non-performing loans for the period increased by 4.5% to N$2.57 billion, resulting in the group’s NPL ratio increasing from 5.8% to 5.9%.
The Namibia-based institution’s income from associates declined by 33.9% y/y to N$36.3 million, a position attributed to significant volumes of life insurance claims during the outbreak of the third wave of COVID-19.
Operating expenses for the period increased by 4.1% y/y to N$1.03 billion, with employee costs up 3.9% y/y due to annual salary increases.
The financial services group’s total assets grew by N$1.15 billion to N$57.4 billion, while its gross loans and advances increased by 3.6% y/y to N$43.7 billion, with Bank Windhoek’s gross advances up 2.6%, attributable to commercial loans, mortgage loans and article finance.
Bank Gaborone managed to increase gross loans and advances by 2.8% for the period, while Entrepo reported loan book growth of 2.8% to N$1.47 billion.
Cash and balances with the central bank declined slightly by 2.4% y/y to reach N$1.72 billion at the end of the period, with deposits up 0.7% to N$41.1 billion.
Analyst views
Simonis Storm– “Overall, Capricon’s results were in line with our expectations. The group’s diversified portfolio delivered well on growth in profits and should be well-positioned to take advantage of the expected rise in interest rates during the year.”
IJG Stockbroking –“The jury remains out there as to where will long-term growth come from – read off for other banks as well. We think the group should do well over the short-to-medium term, expecting impairment charges to reduce, gradual interest rate hikes to push NII and volumes to push NIR. We also believe that their diverse business structure should offset some risk given their ‘no big brother to support’ status.”
