Barclays Kenya reaps from cost cuts, prudent lending

Barclays Bank of Kenya said on Tuesday its pretax profit increased 26 percent to 8.87 billion shillings in the nine months ended September, driven higher by the benefits of cost-cutting and sharply reduced bad loan provisions.

Earnings per share for the bank, which is controlled by Britain's Barclays Plc, jumped 11.6 percent to 1.93 shillings per share from 1.73 shillings last time.

The 2010 earnings per share figure was restated to take into account a four-for-one share split carried out in May to boost market liquidity.

While net interest income was flat at 12 billion shillings, operating expenses fell 12 percent to 10.17 billion shillings and provision for bad debts dropped by 56 percent to just over half a billion shillings.

"This was achieved on account of prudent lending policies and a relentless focus on collections and recovery of previously impaired loans," the bank said in a statement.

Barclays laid off 200 workers at the start of this year, mainly at the managerial level, to contain soaring costs.

Shares in the bank rose 2.71 percent to 15.15 shillings during Tuesday's session, in anticipation of improved results for the period.