Kenya's Biggest Bank Posts First Profit Drop on Bad Loans
- Net income falls 4%; first decrease since bank founded in 2004
- Shares fall most since August, extending post rate-cap slide
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Equity Group Holdings Ltd. posted its first-ever drop in annual profit, missing analysts’ expectations for an increase, as non-performing loans at Kenya’s biggest bank by market value more than doubled. The stock head for it’s biggest fall in six months.
Net income declined to 16.5 billion shillings ($161 million) in the 12 months through December from 17.3 billion shillings a year earlier, Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Nairobi. That compares with the 18.7 billion-shilling median of six analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.