Capitec Bank, a leading retail bank led by South African billionaire Michiel Le Roux, has delivered an impressive financial performance at the close of its 2023 fiscal year. Despite a challenging economic landscape, the bank’s profit surged by an impressive 14 percent.
According to figures disclosed in the recently released financial results, the top South African retail bank reported a profit rise of 14 percent from R8.52 billion ($466.4 million) in 2022 to R9.7 billion ($531 million) by the end of its 2023 fiscal year.
Capitec Bank was resilient during tough times marked by military aggression in Ukraine, resulting in significant increases in energy and food prices, as well as continued uncertainty surrounding load shedding and lower business confidence. This led to greater financial constraints on consumers and businesses in South Africa.
The double-digit percent increase in the Le Roux-led retail bank’s earnings can be attributed to an increase in the group’s lending, investment, and insurance income, which increased from R19.96 billion ($1.1 billion) to R24.17 billion ($1.32 billion).
The bank’s impressive increase in lending, investment, and insurance income was complemented by cost-cutting strategies that resulted in a significant decrease in operating expenses from R12.55 billion ($687 million) to R11.87 billion ($650 million).
Capitec Bank is a leading South African bank with one of the largest customer bases in the country. It presently operates 856 branches and 7,436 ATMs across South Africa.
Since its inception 20 years ago by Le Roux and leading businessmen Jannie Mouton and Riaan Stassen, the bank has grown to become one of the world’s most reputable retail banking brands, offering transactional banking and loan products.
With a profit of R9.7 billion ($531 million) at the end of its fiscal year in 2023, the board approved a final gross dividend of R28 ($1.53) per share, bringing the total dividend for the 2023 fiscal year to R42 ($2.3) per share, up from R36.4 ($1.99) per share in 2022.
As a result of its strong financial performance, the group’s total assets increased by 7.8 percent, from R177.94 billion ($9.74 billion) to R191.8 billion ($10.5 billion), while retained earnings increased from R29.55 billion ($1.64 billion) to R33.06 billion ($1.81 billion).
