By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK
Bank Windhoek says the past financial year proved a milestone in the 25-year history of the bank. The bank said this when it announced its financial results for the financial year ending June 30, 2007 recently.
The bank’s shareholders acquired Absa’s 34,4% stake in the bank’s holding company, Capricorn Investment Holdings (CIH) in November 2006.
“With the change of ownership, Bank Windhoek looks forward to further strengthening its position in the market as a bank that can make quick and local decisions, enabling us to meet the demands and expectations of our clients,” Managing Director of Bank Windhoek James Hill said.
In a statement announcing the results, Hill said that during the period under review, the bank had comfortably exceeded its financial targets.
The focus had remained on controlled growth and the acquisition of good quality business.
“In terms of future performance, Bank Windhoek does not have a short-term view regarding profit growth. We have a long-term client-centric business model based on addressing the needs of our clients first and reaping the benefits in the long term.
“Although the competitive environment will remain a challenge, Bank Windhoek expects its business to show continued growth in the upcoming year,” Hill added.
The bank said it maintained strong earnings growth and delivered another set of positive results by leveraging the benefits of new customer-relationship management models.
Additional products offerings, as well as a favourable operating environment, also helped boost earnings growth.
According to Bank Windhoek, earnings growth for the year ended June 30, 2007 grew by 26.8% to N$248 million before tax, compared with the earnings of N$196 million for the previous year.
Earnings per share increased by 26.3% to 3,448.9 cents per share and delivered a return of 26.6% on shareholder’s equity for the year.
Bank Windhoek recorded a cost-to-income ratio of 53.4%, which it said compared favourably to the 54.4% for the year ended June 30, 2006.
Revenue growth exceeded cost growth by 2.5%.
The company said the increase in operating expenses are attributable to costs associated with the expansion of the Bank’s distribution footprint, as well as expansion in product offerings.
In addition, it incurred further costs relating to business process re-engineering initiatives, higher incentive provisions and expenditure relating to compliance and technology changes.