23rd Feb 2015 07:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - Old Mutual PLC Monday said its South African banking subsidiary Nedbank Group Ltd posted higher earnings and raised its dividend in 2014, driven by net interest income growth and a lower credit loss ratio.
Nedbank's headline earnings rose 14.0% to SAR9.88 billion, as net interest income rose 8.2% to SAR22.96 billion, and impairments decreased 19.0% to SAR4.51 billion. The South African business raised its full-year dividend by 14.9% to 1.028 cents.
"The group is resilient, with diversified income streams and strong balance sheet metrics, and is well positioned to continue to grow despite economic headwinds. Although forecast risk remains high, for the year ahead we again expect organic growth in diluted headline earnings per share to be above nominal GDP growth," Nedbank Chief Executive Mike Brown said in a statement.
The bank's return on equity excluding goodwill was 17.2% in 2014, flat on the previous year, while its common-equity tier 1 ration was 11.6% at the end of the year, down from 12.5% at the end of 2013.
Old Mutual held a 51.8% stake in Nedbank as of last June, according to Nedbank's website.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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