Equity Group HY’22 net earnings edged up 35.32% y/y to KES 24.43Bn while EPS also jumped 35.27% to KES 6.29. The impressive growth in bottom-line was mainly driven by a 26.44% growth in operating income to KES 65.65Bn weighed down by a 23.64% y/y growth in Total Operating Expenses to KES 34.73Bn and a 28.00% contribution from subsidiaries. Customer deposits grew 18.45% y/y to KES 970.94Bn while the loan book increased faster at 28.86% y/y to KES 650.56Bn, taking the loan to deposit ratio 541bps higher to 67.00%. Loan book growth was driven by highest increase in lending from DRC, Uganda and Rwandan markets while deposits mobilization through digital channels was highest in DRC, Kenya and Uganda. At the current growth rate, we expect the lender to close FY’22 at a PAT of KES 49.33Bn being a 23.11% y/y growth.
We continue to see the effect of the yield curve steepening as the fair value loss from government securities, at KES 38.95Bn, compared to the FVOCI securities jumped to
11.09% higher than 0.81% in HY’21. We do not foresee the FV losses having a negative impact on the share price as the most Eurobond yields have started to cool off and the lender’s indication of slowed uptake of government securities (6.26% q/q decline)
