ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank profits fell 17 percent in the June 2025 quarter to 6.7 billion rupees, due to higher operating expenses, interim accounts show.
Sampath Bank reported earnings of 5.72 rupees per share.
Fee and commission income grew 20 percent to 6.58 billion rupees.
Compared to net profits of 6.7 billion rupees, income tax and financial VAT totaled 8.4 billion rupees.
As lending rates were reduced, interest income fell 1 percent to 48 billion rupees, while interest expenses rose 2 percent, and net interest income also fell 4 percent to 20.87 billion rupees.
Loans and advances rose 9 percent in the first half of the year to 981 billion rupees. Debt and other instruments grew 35 percent to 546.9 billion rupees from 405.6 billion rupees.
Impairments were a reversal of 600 million rupees. Stage 3 loans were 80.8 billion rupees by end June, compared to 81.5 billion by end December 2024.
Deposits grew 9.8 percent to 1,613.6 billion rupees in the first half of the year.
The Bank recorded a total forex gain of 2.4 billion rupees during the first half of 2025, reflecting an improvement compared to the exchange loss of 2.7 billion in the first half of the previous year. This gain was primarily attributable to the depreciation of Sri Lanka rupee currency against US dollars by 6.58 rupees.
Group’s total assets went up 8.95 percent to reach a record 2 trillion rupees.
Group Tier 1 capital ratio was 15.64 percent, from 16.75 percent in December, higher than the required 7 percent. Total capital ratio was 19.16 percent, down from 19.38 percent, higher than the required 12.5 percent. (Colombo/August 14/2025)
