Banking group FirstRand boosted diluted headline earnings per share by 19% from 62,9 cents to 74,8 cents for the six months ended December.
The group declared a dividend of 32 cents per share, which was a 20% increase on the previous dividend.
It said the strong results were achieved in a positive economic environment, which provided strong organic growth opportunities for all the group’s businesses and in particular the banking group, which produced headline earnings growth of 20% to R3-billion.
It pointed out that headline earnings for the group as a whole were affected by the cost of the Discovery black economic empowerment (BEE) deal, a settlement with the National Treasury, the impact of currency translations and the movement in fair value of FirstRand shares held by policyholders.
The group believes that growth in normalised earnings and net asset value, both of which grew by 19%, is a fairer reflection of the underlying performance of the businesses.
A 30% return on equity for the period was achieved by the group.
Commenting on the results, Paul Harris, FirstRand CEO, said: “The group’s businesses delivered very strong operational performances across the board. The banking group benefited from excellent performances from RMB and WesBank, with FNB also showing very strong market-share gains in all its key divisions, particularly HomeLoans.
“While operating expenses showed significant growth, much of this was due to investment strategies and costs associated with increased volumes. The increase in ‘base’ costs was only 6% and the overall cost to income ratio of the banking group improved marginally.
“Momentum also posted particularly strong results, growing normalised earnings by 25%, which was an excellent performance in what was a challenging market environment, driven by increased competition and consumerism.
“Discovery also performed well, growing operating profits by 32% during the period under review, despite a disappointing performance from the United States operations Destiny Health.”
FirstRand banking group produced normalised earnings growth of 21%. FNB grew pre-tax profit by 18% and non-interest revenue by 22%, and experienced strong market and advances growth, particularly in HomeLoans and Card Issuing.
The strong equity markets and a high level of BEE activity positively affected the equity-related businesses of RMB, particularly Private Equity, Equity Trading and Corporate Finance. WesBank continued to perform well, growing advances by 26% and new business written by 34%. Car sales continue at record highs and this trend is expected to continue.
Momentum benefited from strong retail new business growth and significant growth in asset-management earnings due to buoyant equity markets and retail product inflows.
Harris commented that the group expects the conditions of the first six months to continue with consumer credit demand, particularly asset-backed, remaining buoyant.
“This will be positive for the group’s retail, wholesale and vehicle-financing operations” he said, “and the expected opportunities from BEE activity and strong equity markets will be positive for investment banking.
“The challenge going forward is to maintain growth at current levels and improve efficiencies particularly as margins are likely to remain under pressure.” — I-Net Bridge