NMB to offer around 15% dividend, preferably bonus share; AGM after Tihar

ShareSansar, September 4:

NMB Bank Limited is likely to pledge around 15 percent dividend for the last fiscal year 2070/71, according to its top executive.

“We are in a position to offer better dividend than what we offered last year,” Chief Executive Officer Upendra Poudyal told ShareSansar today when asked if they were planning to give higher dividend this time around.

It may be noted that though NMB Bank had initially pledged 15 percent dividend, the central bank had asked it to revise it to 10 percent. The central bank had directed the commercial bank not to include Rs 10 crore invested in NMB Capital Limited, a subsidiary of the bank, and to keep that sum aside in an investment adjustment fund.

But another senior official with NMB Bank said that they are planning to pledge at least 15 percent bonus share this time around, citing distributable profit they have not been able to offer to the shareholders over the past two fiscal years.

On top of that the bank has posted an impressive profit rise of 19 percent in the last fiscal year. NMB’s net profit has risen to Rs 43.37 crore, up from Rs 36.66 crore at the end of the previous fiscal year 2069/70

CEO Poudyal, on the other hand, only said that they were looking forward to issue more than 10 percent dividend, preferably in the form of bonus share.

“We are finalizing the preliminary balance sheet,” he added. “If the central bank approves of our plan then we would like to issue bonus share.”

He, however, added that they may not be able to hold the Annual General Meeting before Tihar festival. “We might be able to hold it toward the end of Kartik or in Mangshir,” he said.

The NMB officials are quite upbeat this time around as the bank’s growth is attributable to both its core business and a massive sum it succeeded to write back by the end of the fourth quarter.

NMB’s net interest income grew to Rs 80.92 crore in the fourth quarter from Rs 76.23 crore in the corresponding quarter.

It mobilized Rs 26.27 arba in deposit and Rs 20.46 arba in loan as compared to Rs 21.94 arba in deposit and Rs 16.49 arba in loan it had mobilized in the previous fiscal year.

By the end of the fourth quarter, it also managed to write back Rs 20.51 crore of the sum it had provisioned for loss.

Yet another inspiring aspect of the financial report is that NMB’s non-performing loan has dropped to 0.55 percent, down from 1.80 percent.

Its EPS (annualized) stands at Rs 20.50, P/E ratio at 25.12 times and net worth per share stands at Rs 141.71.