Johannesburg - African Bank Investments
[JSE:ABL] reported an 18% rise in annual profit on Monday that missed market expectations, a sign that demand for unsecured lending could be cooling.
The mass-market lender said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 342.5 cents in the year to end- September, compared with 291c a year earlier.
A poll of 12 analysts had expected earnings to increase 25% to 362c, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Headline EPS, which excludes some one-time and financial items, is the main measure of profit in South Africa.
The company said it increased dividends by 5% to 195c, higher than the 183c expected by in the poll of analysts.
Interest income rose 36% to R9.9bn and non-interest income rose 12% to R3.3bn.
Abil shares are down 13% this year, compared with over 14% growth by Johannesburg Top-40 index.