NCB Financial Group, parent company for the National Commercial Bank (NCB), recorded net profit of $20.9 billion for the nine months ended June 30, 2018.

Net profit attributable to stockholders was $20.7 billion — an increase of 40 per cent or $5.9 billion over the prior year.

In a statement to the Jamaica Stock Exchange, NCB said: “We have achieved our highest results to date and exceeded the annual results for the 2017 financial year.”

Included in the results for the financial period is an additional gain (negative goodwill) of $2.9 billion applied retrospectively to December 2017 related to the acquisition of Clarien.

NCB said that “normalising the first quarter for the extraordinary gain of $4.4 billion, this quarter’s net profit of $6.8 billion is the group’s highest quarter in its history. “

Operating expenses also increased over the period and totalled $37 billion, an increase of 32 per cent or $9 billion over the prior year.

The group’s loans and advances — net of provision for credit losses — totalled $361.3 billion. That was an increase of $149.2 billion or 70 per cent over the prior year, NCB said.

“In addition to the consolidation of Clarien, there was growth in all our business segments’ loan portfolios: corporate up 36 per cent, retail up 21 per cent, credit card receivables up 15 per cent and offshore up 36 per cent,” NCB said.

Non-performing loans also increased and totalled $17.6 billion as at June 30, 2018 (June 30, 2017: $5.6 billion) representing 4.8 per cent of the gross loans compared to 2.6 per cent as at June 30, 2017, the bank said, noting that the increase was due to the inclusion of Clarien which has a non-performing loan ratio of 11 per cent.

Meanwhile, customer deposits totalled $464.3 billion, an increase of $170.8 billion or 58 per cent over the prior year — driven, the bank said, by the consolidation of Clarien which has deposits in excess of US$1 billion and 11 per cent growth in both the retail and corporate portfolios.

“Our strategy is driven by innovation, expertise and financial strength and, for this financial year, the Group continued to make significant investments in building a world-class digital experience.”

It said, “We anticipate that the use of technology will enhance efficiency as well as provide insightful data and analytics which will promote customer delight and improve risk management.”

The board of directors has declared an interim dividend of $0.70 per ordinary stock unit. The dividend is payable on August 28, 2018 for stockholders on record as at August 14, 2018.