Cambodia Investment Review

ACLEDA Bank continues to post record gains earning $81M in half-yearly net profit

ACLEDA Bank continues to post record gains earning $81M in half-yearly net profit

ACLEDA Bank Plc, the only bank trading equities on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) posted a record first half-yearly profit of $81 million, an increase of 27.4% compared to the same six-month period last year. The bank stated the increase was mainly due to an increase in net interest income of 12.6% over the same period, according to the company’s interim financial report.

In addition, despite the company earning more gross profit in this period the Bank had a reduced tax bill at around 16% of the gross profit (compared to the 20% corporate tax rate). Gross profit was listed at $98 million and the Bank paid $16.8 million in corporate tax.

The reduced tax bill was due to the successful listing on CSX last year. According to Cambodian tax law, the Bank is entitled to a reduction at 50% on the tax on profit for three years after listing based on the percentage of listed shares and waiver of other tax liabilities.

The Bank expected $10.1 million of impairment losses over the last six months on loans and advances, deposits and placements with other banks, and other receivables attributed to the COVID pandemic financial impact.

ACLEDA Bank shares (CSX:ABC) closed trading on Friday at 12,500 riels. Both retail and institutional investors are yet to take full advantage of CSX’s largest listed company price which is currently trading 20% below its IPO price. The price drop occurred after more than 11,000 members of the ACLEDA Bank staff association were able to partially sell their shares on the open market last month.

The Bank has embarked on an aggressive digitalization strategy to expand its self-automation capacity, as a result the company reported a slight reduction in staff despite the in increase in income. As of June, the Group and the Bank have 13,686 and 12,036 employees, respectively. (2020: 13,704 and 12,013 employees, respectively).

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