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Johannesburg - Nedbank Group [JSE:NED], the lender controlled by Old Mutual [JSE:OML], retained its outlook for full- year profit after net interest income gained in the first quarter.
The company continues to target organic growth in diluted headline earnings per share greater than growth in nominal GDP, it said in a statement on Monday.
The bank predicts economic expansion in South Africa will be 2.2% this year with “risk remaining to the downside”, it said. The government's growth target is 2% this year.
Nedbank said on February 23 that full-year profit gained 14% to R9.8bn and earnings per share excluding one-time items climbed 13% to R21.27, beating the median estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
“Economic conditions in South Africa remained weak in the first quarter as the benefits of lower oil prices and benign interest rates were largely offset by electricity supply constraints, negatively impacting business confidence,” the company said.
Net interest income for the three months ended March 31 rose 4.4% to R5.81bn, while the net interest margin narrowed to 3.4% from 3.57%. Non-interest revenue gained 18% to R5.32bn, with commission and fee income up 9.4%.
Insurance income fell 8.2%.
