NBD records whopping profit

The National Bank of Dominica (NBD) has recorded a whopping $EC14.7 million dollars in profit after taxes.
In its 2006/2007 annual report ahead of its fourth Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was held on November 19, 2007 at the Fort Young Hotel, Chairman of the Board, Norman Rolle stated, “The efforts of the unit enabled the group (NBD) to significantly improve its performance from a net loss of EC8.9M in fiscal year 2005/2006 to a net profit (after taxes) of EC$14.7M in the current fiscal year. This represents an increase of 270% over the fiscal year 2005/2006.”
The bank’s assets also increased from $559,364,189 to $662,122,036 or by 18.4% under the year in review. There was growth of 21% in the investments along with growth in loan and advances of 15% .
Total revenue for the fiscal year 2006/2007 was EC$57.8M, representing an increase of EC$18.2M or 46.2% over the 2005/2006 financial year.
As a result of this massive profit, shareholders of the bank were given $0.12 on dividend per share as compared to $0.08 in 2005/2006.
Rolle however expressed concerns regarding the operating expenses of the bank which increased by 4%. This, he attributes to the Value Added Tax (VAT).
“The introduction of VAT has had the effect of contributing significantly to our operating expenses and it is estimated to have increased in this area by 4%. This is because the financial sector is not allowed to recover cost,” he said. However, he explained that this measure has succeeded in creating increased liquidity for the Government and the consensus is that this tax has had a positive impact on the economy and the government’s finances.
Meantime, in his report, Managing Director of the bank, Gregory de Gannes attributes the bank’s good results to “A deliberate strategy of providing relevant training and education to staff, rationalising resources, minimising costs, improving net spread but, more importantly, looking very closely at all the Group’s processes and maximising the use of technology.”
This approach he explains, underpins the bank’s strategy for growth and expansion in the domestic and regional capital markets in the years ahead.
“Where profitability is concerned, the group’s financial fundamentals are strong and are reflective of current good economic climate. Therefore, with continued growth in the economy, profitability should increase,” de Gannes said.