RABAT, March 27 (Reuters) – Morocco-based BMCE Bank posted a 4 percent rise in 2011 net profit as an increased market share in core banking and revenues from African markets helped it offset depressed stock market activity and higher bad debt provisions.
Morocco’s third biggest bank, led by local magnate Othmane Benjelloun, made 850 million dirhams ($100 million) net profit last year, or 4.94 dirhams per share.
BMCE said on Tuesday net operating income, which it referred to as net banking income, rose 8 percent to 8.14 billion dirhams, with the contribution of African subsidiaries rising to 41 percent in 2011 versus 35 percent in 2010.
BMCE Bank holds a 59.4 percent stake in Bank of Africa, which is active in 21 African countries.
The lender’s market shares in loans and deposits rose by 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent to 13.1 and 14.6 percent respectively.
Loans rose 13 percent to 121.34 billion dirhams in 2011 while deposits grew by 5 percent to 139.15 billion dirhams, it said.
BMCE significantly reduced the losses of its London subsidiary, MediCapital.
The bank said it was constrained by lower activities on the securities brokerage industry amid a sluggish stock market and the absence of certain one-off revenues.
The main index of Morocco’s stock exchange lost 13 percent in 2011 amid a drop in trading activity induced mostly by regional political instability and the repercussions of the global financial crisis.
Shares in the bank were down 1.1 percent to 204.5 dirhams by 1247 GMT. The stock fell 18 percent in 2011 and has lost 3.2 percent since the start of 2012.
“BMCE did well in 2011 and continues to enjoy a decent financial flexibility when you consider its loan-to-deposit ratio amid the liquidity squeeze in the domestic market,” said a senior trader on the Casablanca bourse.
“The problem it has is its stock price which remains far too pricey considering its earnings per share,” the trader added.
($1 = 8.3879 Moroccan dirhams) (Reporting By Souhail Karam. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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