Equity Bank says Q1 profit rises 21%

{{Equity Bank of Kenya posted a 21% rise in first-quarter pretax profit to 4.5 billion shillings ($53.8 million) and said it expects strong earnings growth for the rest of the year.}}

Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi said he was upbeat about Equity Bank’s prospects for the rest of the year after Kenya held peaceful elections in March, in contrast to the 2007 post-election violence that crippled east Africa’s biggest economy.

“That (peaceful vote) will nurture significant growth going forward,” Mwangi told an investor briefing in Nairobi on Monday.

Equity, the country’s largest bank by customers, said profit was mainly boosted by a rise in net interest income, which jumped 21% to 6.87 billion shillings.

The bank’s costs-to-income ratio dropped to 49.9% from 50.9% in the year ago period, Mwangi added.

Equity also operates in neighbouring South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. ($1 = 83.7000 Kenyan shillings).

{reuters}