Ecobank Ghana Profit Rose 20% in 2011 as Loan Income Grew

Ecobank Ghana Ltd. (EBG), a unit of Lome- based Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), said profit in 2011 increased 20 percent as it earned more from loans.

Net income rose to 72.4 million cedis ($41 million), the company said in a statement e-mailed by the Ghana Stock Exchange today. Net interest income, the money banks make from loans, climbed 18 percent 128.6 million cedis.

“The bank employed a very robust risk management system that enabled it to grow its loan book significantly without much impairment,” Randy Mensah, a stock trader at Databank Financial Services Ltd. in Accra, said by phone today.

Loans and advances to customers grew 71 percent to 849.9 million cedis while impairment costs climbed 7 percent to 6.2 million cedis, according to the statement.

The lender will pay a dividend of 0.24 cedi per share on May 18, according to a separate statement. That’s an increase of 20 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Shares of Ecobank were unchanged at 3.15 cedis as of close of trading in Accra.

To contact the reporter on this story: Moses Mozart Dzawu in Accra at mdzawu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emily Bowers at ebowers1@bloomberg.net