South African commercial bank Capitec Bank Holdings (CPI) on Wednesday reported a 36.29% hike in diluted headline earnings per share for the six months ended August 2012 to 691 cents‚ from the previous corresponding period’s 507 cents.
The bank increased its earnings by 43% to R700 million‚ due to a 42% improvement in the cost to income ratio.
“The bank's focus has been to acquire more transacting clients‚ reduce the cost of credit and maintain stringent credit criteria‚” Capitec said in a JSE Sens announcement on Wednesday.
The bank declared an interim dividend of 169 cents per share - up 35% on a year ago.
Capitec’s active clients increased to 4.2 million during the period‚ from the 3.2 million recorded last year.
“The focus remains on acquiring clients that will use Capitec as their primary bank. Many clients have accounts at a number of banks but choose one as the account into which their salaries are deposited and from which payments are made‚” Capitec said.
The bank said it will expand its branches by between 50 and 75 branches per year for the next three years.
“Opportunities exist to broaden our market to include higher income clients that are increasingly exposed to our simplified‚ low-cost offer and are finding that the Global One solution is perfect for their needs‚” Capitec said.
Also on Wednesday‚ Capitec announced it was going to offer around 14 million shares at a subscription price of R160 per share on 19 October in order to raise R2.248 billion.
“In anticipation of the growth prospects in the market in which Capitec operates and of the new Basel III capital requirements‚ Capitec's board of directors and executive management believe it is responsible to proactively optimise the capital base and provide the financial flexibility needed to support the group's growth prospects by raising capital through the rights offer‚” Capitec said. - I-Net Bridge