BK Group Plc is projecting after tax profits of approximately Rwf60 billion up from Rwf43 billion last year.
In the first nine months of 2022, the company registered Rwf33.5 billion, reflecting an 18.4 percentage increase from the same period last year.
The outlook was announced on Wednesday, in a virtual press briefing that was graced by Group CEO Beatha Habyarimana and Bank of Kigali Chief Executive Diane Karusisi.
If the target of Rwf60 billion is to be achieved, that means that the group is projecting over Rwf25 billion in the fourth quarter.
"We believe we can end the year with 60 billion around there, which we believe is important compared to what we saw last year,” said Karusisi, Bank of Kigali CEO.
"Last year at group level we were at 43 or 45 billion, going to 60 billion is a major achievement for us,” she added.
As usual, Karusisi said, the projection banks on the performance of the bank, but also subsidiaries that are now contributing more and more to the top and bottom lines of the Group business.
"You have seen that in the insurance business, despite the fact that there is a very stiff competition due to new entrants, we are able to show resilience. Actually it increased by about 15 percent year on year. This shows the solidity of the group.”
According to Karusisi, return on assets increased by 3.5 percent while return on equity increased by 19.5 percent.
"One sector that we believe remains a challenge is the commercial real estate sector where we have seen some high-profile auctions in the market in the past couple of months, and we also have some clients that are still in Non-Performing Loans.”
"And the plan for us obviously is to auction because we don't see any hope for these clients.”
Meanwhile, she said, "The hospitality industry seems to show very good signs of recovery, because most of them are paying very liquid, and have reservations bookings that go all the way to Jan next year. This gives us a lot of comfort and we are also still looking at real estate, which is still a challenge.”
BK Group is Rwanda’s leading financial group with 30 percent market share.
BK Group constitutes four subsidiaries including the Bank of Kigali, BK General Insurance, BK TecHouse, and BK Capital.
The largest driver of the group has for long been the banking industry.
Optimistic outlook
Reacting to the current inflationary pressures, Group CEO Beatha Habyarimana said that despite the turbulent macroeconomic environment, we can see domestically and globally signals of recovery.
She also hinted at the decision by the Central Bank to further increase the key repo rate, citing that her institution sees it as a strategy to slow down the inflation across the country.
"As this, in one end, can protect the consumer purchase, but also by retrieving that liquidity you can immediately see it in our figures by an increase in deposits, so that it gives us an impact of having lower cost for our funds, and also increases savings.”