TBC Bank reports bumper 1H profits on strong economic growth

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%.