TBC Bank reports bumper 1H profits on strong economic growth

TBC reported bumper profits for the first half of the year thanks to strong growth in Georgia and Uzbekistan.

In the case of the former, growth was described as broad-based in part thanks to a "material" contribution from IT services exports, while headline inflation was running at 0.3% year-on-year in July.

For the first half of the year, the lender posted a 29.4% jump in net interest income to reach 766.1m Georgian lari.

In turn, profit before tax for the period was ahead by 19.5% to 548.1m lari.

On a diluted basis, earnings per share increased 20% to 9.76 lari.

For the second quarter, net interest income rose by 31.5% to reach 399.3m lari and profit was 33% stronger to 296.3m lari.

TBC's return on equity improved by eight tenths of a percentage point during the half to 26.7%, while its cost-to-income ratio declined by 1.4 percentage points to 34.5%.

Non-performing loans meanwhile dipped by two tenths of a point to 2.1% of gross loans.

Looking ahead, and citing rapid growth at its fintechs in Uzbekistan, the lender guided towards a compound annual growth rate in net profits of over 15% to more than 1.5bn lari, alongside a return on equity of above 23%.