Equity's nine-month profit up 13% on subsidiaries' strong growth
Equity Group CEO Dr. James Mwangi.
Regional lender Equity Group's net earnings for the nine months ended September 2024 soared by 13 percent to KES40.9 billion as regional subsidiaries continued to post strong growth.
Disclosures show that regional subsidiaries, led by the bank's unit in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), accounted for 51 percent of the profit for the period.
Equity's presence across key markets Rwanda, DRC, Tanzania among others accounted for 48 percent of the financial institution's total assets, which hit KES1.7 trillion as of September 30th.
“We are proud that the Group has sufficient cushion on its key balance sheet buffers of liquidity, capital and Non-Performing Loans coverage while at the same time, it continues to report above industry average profitability with return on average equity of 24.5 per cent and return on average assets of 3.1 percent," Equity Group CEO Dr. James Mwangi said during an investor briefing.
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Customer deposits
At the end of the third quarter, customer deposits grew by nine percent YoY to KES1.3 trillion with its customer base now at 21.3 million across the East African region.
The lender said this growth in deposits resulted in a 12 percent increase in cash and cash equivalents to KES295.5 billion and an increase in investment securities to KES468.1 billion.
At the same time, shareholders’ funds grew by 17 per cent to KES227.0 billion strengthening the Group’s "ability to deliver the private sector-led Africa Resilience and Recovery Plan by investing in new subsidiary undertakings in the Insurance Group as well as positioning the Group to continue to take advantage of any market opportunities."
Interest income went up by 13 percent to KES125.9 billion from KES111.1 billion during the period under review despite the high inflation and interest shocks which saw returns to customers in the form of interest expense grow by 18 percent to KES45.3 billion from KES38.5 billion.
The lender's non-funded income increased by KES2 billion, yielding a total income growth of 8 percent to KES138.9 billion, up from KES128.9 billion YoY.
