Sampath Bank nearly doubles profit in 1Q; credit quality shows signs of improvement

Sampath Bank PLC delivered some robust profits for the three months ended in March 2021 (1Q21) as the bank saw its credit quality improving, resulting in much lower impairments than what it provided a year ago and opened its lending spigots generating more revenues.

Sri Lanka’s third largest private lender by assets reported earnings of Rs.4.46 a share or Rs.5.1 billion in total earnings for the January-March quarter, up 90.7 percent from Rs.2.34 a share or Rs.2.7 billion in earnings in the year ago period.

The bank provided Rs.1.6 billion for possible losses from loan defaults and other financial assets during the quarter under review compared to Rs.5.2 billion provided in the same period a year ago, as uncertainties mounted on borrowers’ capacity to service their loans when the economy was shut down for nearly two months, last year.