Kina announced net profit of K47.5m

Papua New Guinea's Kina Securities Ltd achieved a pro-forma net profit of K47.5 million for the year ending December 31, 2015.

It was 4.9 per cent higher than the forecast of K45.3 million. 

The entity was listed on the Port Moresby Stock Exchange and Australia Securities Exchange last July.

Chief executive officer Syd Yates said the acquisition of Maybank Papua New Guinea was the driver behind the entity’s strong financial result. 

“One of the main factors that led to our strong result was that the benefits of the K349 million acquisition of Maybank PNG began to emerge in the latter part of the year,” he said.

“We completed the merger in September and we were able to achieve solid lending growth in the final quarter.

“The Maybank merger establishes Kina as the fourth largest bank in the country with great growth potential, offering competitive products and services to consumers.

“The public has responded positively to us, and we are seeing strong interest that we expect to convert into good growth in 2016 and beyond.”

The entity noted in its report that Kina became firmly established as Papua New Guinea’s fourth largest bank with lending assets of K374 million and deposits of more than K680 million.

This large low-cost funding base provided Kina with solid platform to grow lending in its key target markets and drive greater penetration of its expanded customer base of 11,000 financial services consumers.

Loan growth was below prospectus forecasts due to reduced activity in the lead-up to completion of Maybank business, and during initial integration period. However lending has accelerated into the current year.

Meanwhile, according to the financial report, directors have declared a maiden dividend of A$0.034 (K0.073) per share for the year, which again exceeded the prospectus forecast of A$0.032 (K0.068) per share.

It equates to an annualised dividend yield of 11.3 per cent, unfranked, based on a share price of A$0.90 (K1.92).