National Bank suffers Tk1,123cr loss in Jan-Sep

National Bank Limited, a private sector commercial lender, incurred a heavy loss of Tk1, 123 crore in the first nine months of 2023, which was 214% higher than the previous year at the same time.

According to its disclosure published on the stock exchanges yesterday, the consolidated loss per share stood at Tk3.49 during the January–September period.

The consolidated loss per share was Tk1.11 (restated) in the same time of 2022.

The bank said it had to classify a significant amount of loans as borrowers could not repay loan instalments in time due to liquidity crunch in the market for higher inflation in the world economy as well as in Bangladesh.

"Interest on such loans and advance could not be taken to income. Consequently, profitability and EPS (earning per share) decreased significantly," reads the disclosure.

In the first half of 2023, it incurred a loss of Tk626 crore. In the first half of 2022, its loss was Tk172 crore.

In July–September period, it incurred a consolidated loss of Tk499 crore. The consolidated loss per share stood at Tk1.55, which was Tk0.57 in the same time of the previous year.

The consolidated net operating cash flow per share stood negative at Tk1.53, during the January–September period this year, which was negative at Tk10.83 in the same time of 2022.

The net asset value per share stood at Tk9.39 on 30 September, which was Tk14.91 in the same time of 2022.

The bank did not incur a loss until 2021.

In 2022, the bank incurred a huge loss of Tk3,260 crore as its borrowers could not repay their instalments in time and a significant amount of loans became classified.

Due to the high loss, the bank failed to pay any dividend to its shareholders for the year 2022. In 2021, it did not pay any dividends.

National Bank shares were traded at Tk8.30 each yesterday, which was below its face value of Tk10 each, at the Dhaka bourse.