Pierre Guy Noel’s MCB Group posts $194.5 million in profit for 2021, 3.1-percent higher than last year

Mauritius’s largest banking group, MCB Group Limited, has posted MUR8.24 billion ($194.5 million) in profit for its 2021 financial year, ending on June 30.

The group’s audited financial statement revealed that its profit at the end of the 2021 financial year increased by 3.1 percent from MUR7.99 billion ($186.20 million) a year ago to MUR8.24 billion ($194.5 million), according to figures contained in the recent report.

MCB Group is a financial service holding headquartered in Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius.

The holding includes several subsidiaries and associates, operating in three business clusters: banking, non-banking financial and other investments.

Despite the difficulties that the group encountered in its operating environment during the year, its operating income increased by 2 percent compared to last year, while its net interest income rose by 3.1 percent, driven primarily by increased investment in government securities.

These key drivers in its earnings pushed profit after tax up by 3.1 percent to MUR8.24 billion ($194.5 million).

In his statement, Pierre Guy Noel, the outgoing CEO, said that despite tough economic and market conditions that exerted pressure on revenue lines across segments, the group showed resilient performance, with profits edging up significantly.

He explained that this resilience was delivered on the back of effective cost-optimization strategies as difficulties in the company’s operating environment prompted the management to maintain a prudent stance by building additional provisions through expected credit losses, coupled with diversification strategies.

The Mauritius-based group emerged resilient at the end of its 2021 financial year, as its cash portfolio and total assets increased from MUR71.57 billion ($1.67 billion) and MUR532.11 billion ($12.38 billion) in 2020 to MUR108.71 million ($2.53 billion) and MUR683.13 billion ($15.91 billion), respectively.

After a year in which no dividend was paid as a result of disruptions occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, MCB resumed the payment of dividends this year, with the board declaring a final dividend of MUR9.50 ($0.221) per share payable on Dec. 21.

This brings the total dividend payable this year to MUR16.75 ($0.390) per share, in addition to the interim dividend of MUR7.25 ($0.169) per share paid in July 2021.In reaction to the resilient full-year results, MCB shares on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius posted a 3.49-percent gain, as investors scrambled for shares in the group ahead of the dividend qualification date.