Absa Bank HY’22 PAT and EPS edged up 12.96% and 12.62% to KES 6.29Bn and KES 1.16. The leap was driven by a 17.19% y/y increase in Total operating income to KES 20.91Bn supported by interest income from lending. Customer deposits grew 6.72% y/y to KES 281.67Bn while the loan book grew faster at 19.49% y/y to KES 261.54Bn leading to the loan-to-deposit ratio jumping 993bps to 92.85%.
Absa’s exposure to government securities reduced marginally by 0.42% y/y to KES 120.76Bn and 11.68% q/q indicating a strategy to slow down on government papers as the yield curve steepening has exposed most lenders to fair value losses. At the current growth rate, we expect the lender to close FY’22 at a PAT of KES 12.65Bn being a 16.37% y/y growth.
