The Suez Canal Bank (SCB) has achieved a 31% growth in net profit, before appropriations, recording EGP 419.8m at the end of June 2020.

The latest figure compares to the EGP 321.5m in June 2019, supported by an increase of 23% in net returns and 17% in net revenues.

SCB Chairperson and Managing Director, Hussein Refaei, said that, in anticipation, of the economic implications due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the bank had taken proactive measures to increase allocations by the end of June 2020.

The bank had succeeded in selling its entire stake in the Middle East Oil Refining (MIDOR) to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC). The sale was achieved at a total value of $30.6m, achieving a pre-tax capital gain of $5.7m.

Overall, it also reflected positively on equity, which contributed to strengthening the bank’s capital base. Refaei added that the bank achieved a growth rate of 6% in its loan and customer facilities portfolio, to reach EGP 16.3bn in June 2020, compared to EGP 15.4bn in June 2019.