Reuters
Attijariwafa Bank, one of Morocco’s biggest lenders, posted a 1.8 percent rise in net profit to 2.3 billion dirhams ($267 million) for the first six months of the year.
The bank’s profit growth was held back by a rise in bad loans related to an economic slowdown in its domestic market and its expansion in sub-Saharan African markets.
It has subsidiaries in Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Cameroon, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville, plus branches in Europe catering mainly for Moroccans living there.
The bank said on Wednesday it had set aside an additional provision of 1.6 billion dirhams as bad loans reached 10.2 billion dirhams, up from 9 billion at the end of 2013.
Total provisions were at 6.7 billion dirhams at the end of the first half, the results showed.
The bank, controlled by Moroccan royal family holding SNI, said net banking income rose 7.2 percent to 9.8 billion dirhams, thanks to consolidated deposits and loans which increased by 9.4 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.
It sees its return on equity (ROE), a widely followed gauge of profitability for banks, at 15 percent, down from 15.4 percent at the end of 2013.
Attijari says it has the largest branch network in Morocco and Africa with 3,265 branches, up from 3,197 in 2013.
The bank’s shares were down 2.5 percent at 333 dirhams on Wednesday on the Casablanca stock exchange after the results. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)
