NAIROBI (Reuters) – Absa Bank Kenya said on Tuesday its pre-tax profit jumped 75.7% to 15.55 billion shillings ($136.22 million) in 2021, compared with the year-ago period.
The lender, which is a unit of South Africa’s Absa Bank, joins other commercial banks in the East African nation in posting robust profit growth for 2021, driven by the start of a recovery from a COVID-19 pandemic-led slump.
Absa Kenya attributed the performance to muscular growth in its net interest income, driven by the small and medium enterprises segment.
The lender resumed dividend payments after a pause in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining its proposed dividend per share at 1.10 shillings, the same as 2019.
“We remain optimistic of improving macro-economic conditions and our business remains well positioned,” Absa Kenya said in a statement, citing cost efficiencies that it has already attained, and a recovery in its return on equity.
($1 = 114.1500 Kenyan shillings)
(Reporting by Hereward Holland and Duncan Miriri; editing by Uttaresh.V)
