Shareholders of Co-operative Bank have received a boost after the lender posted a seven per cent growth in net earnings for the first six months of the year.
The lender which is expected to feature on the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) starting end of this month posted a net profit of Sh13 billion up from Sh12.1 billion reported in a similar period last year.
This saw shareholders' fund grow by close to Sh12 billion to Sh126.7 billion, driven by the strong growth in retained earnings of Sh15.1 billion.
"The strong performance by the Bank is in line with the Group’s strategic focus on sustainable growth, resilience, and agility delivering a Return on Equity of 22.1 per cent,'' Co-op Bank Group MD Gideon Muriuki said.
On Wednesday, Kenya's fourth largest bank in asset base joined Safaricom, KCB Group, Equity Group and East African Breweries on the MSCI Inc, a top index that provides indices and other decision-making tools for the global investment community.
It restructures its constituents periodically – February, May, August and November – adding or removing any constituent companies and their weighting.
The upgrades, which follow the MSCI August 2024 review, come in the light of Co-op Bank gaining 10.1 per cent at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Currently, Safaricom carries the most weight, accounting for 48.2 per cent of the MSCI Kenya Index with Equity, KCB Group and EABL taking up 28.9, 17.3 and 5.7 per cent respectively.
Its most well known indices are the Frontier Markets Index, Emerging Markets Index, and All Country World Index.
Kenya is one of the countries in its Frontier Markets Index, which includes 213 companies from 28 countries.
Co-op Bank's gross profit for the period grew by 10.8 per cent to Sh18.2 billion, compared to Sh16.4 billion recorded in same period last year.
The lender's total assets grew to Sh716.9 billion, a 7.8 per cent growth from Sh664.9 billion in the same period last year.
Net loans and advances grew to Sh375.6 billion, a 2.8 per cent growth from Sh365.4 billion in 2023. Customer deposits grew to Sh507.4 billion, a 9.4 per cent increase from Sh463.9 billion.
Total operating income grew by 10.9 per cent from Sh35.4 billion to Sh39.2 billion. Total non-interest income grew by 11.2 per cent from Sh13.8 billion to Sh15.4 billion.
Net interest income grew by 10.7 per cent from Sh21.5 billion to Sh23.9 billion. Total operating expenses grew by 11.1 per cent from Sh19.1 billion to Sh21.3 billion.
Mco-op Cash mobile wallet continues to drive substantial non-funded income streams with Sh36.4 billion in loans disbursed in 1H2024, averaging Sh6.1 billion per month.
The lender's subsidiary, Kingdom Bank Limited contributed Sh635.5 million to the gross profits, a 21.8 per cent growth from Sh521.9 million reported same period last year.
Co-operative Bank of South Sudan, a joint venture (JV) partnership with Government of South Sudan contributed Sh264.3 million to the group's profits, translating to a monetary loss of Sh252.4 million attributable to hyperinflation accounting occasioned by currency devaluation of the South Sudan Pound.
Co-op Trust Investment and Co-op Bancassurance contributed Sh142.7 million and Sh682.7 million respectively to the group's earnings.