A shareholder of the DFCC Bank would have received a total of Rs.57.50 in dividends for each share held over the 10-year period from 2003 to 2012 working out to an average dividend of Rs.5.75 per share per annum, the bank’s Chairman, Mr. Rajan Brito, has said in the company’s annual report.
"In overall terms, taking into account the bonus issues and the rights issue during this period, total shareholder return works out to approximately 20% per annum," he said.
Brito reported that the regulatory landscape for the banking industry was evolving and their unique business model enables DFCC, one of the oldest development finance institutions in the world, and its only wholly owned subsidiary, DFCC Vardhana Bank, to compete in the financial services space as legally separated but operationally integrated entities. They offer the full range of development and commercial bank products and services seamlessly through a unified distribution channel.
"However, we are cognizant of the fact that changes and restructure of the sector is something that may be imminent. Accordingly, DFCC and DVB have placed themselves on an agile footing so as to be able to swiftly assess all options and act fast should the expected changes in legislation warrant and facilitate consolidation," he said.
The year under review saw the group boosting its pre-tax profit 19.6% to Rs.4.4 billion and the after-tax profit 16.5% to Rs.3.5 billion translating to earnings per share of Rs.13.04, up from Rs.11.19 a year earlier.
Brito announced that the company’s CEO, Mr. Nihal Fonseka, will step down from October 1 and be succeeded by Mr. Arjun Fernando who was appointed DCEO in August 2012 with the intention of serving a transition period before taking over as chief executive.
Fonseka who was associated with DFCC for 14 years said that his had been a rewarding experience with the bank transforming from a narrowly focused specialized bank to a financial services group whose total assets had grown from Rs.24.1 billion to Rs.151.1 billion during his tenure.
He said that this would not have been possible without the support of the bank’s valued customers all over the country, the senior management team, key long-term shareholders and multilateral and bilateral lending agencies.
Fonseka noted the need for banks in the country to become more cost effective and technology driven by ensuring scale benefits which most banks here lack.
"As such, apart from the need for consolidation that has been much talked about, banks should also actively consider pooling technology platforms to a greater extent than they have done in the past, thereby driving costs down and shifting their focus to competing on products, pricing and service offering," he said.
"Strategies in this regard will probably need to be formulated not by bankers and internal IT departments of banks steeped in traditional operating models but by innovators and new talent that need to be laterally inducted into banks at all levels from other businesses and services."
DFCC has a stated capital of Rs.4.7 billion, statutory reserves of Rs.2 billion, retained earnings of Rs.3 billion and other reserves of Rs.24.9 billion in its books.
Total assets ran at Rs.93.1 billion and total liabilities at Rs.58.4 billion at the level of the bank. At group level total assets were Rs.151.1 billion and total liabilities at Rs.113.9 billion.
The Bank of Ceylon with 14.35% is the biggest shareholder of DFCC followed by HNB (12.22%), the Life Fund of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (10%) and the EPF (9.19%). The biggest individual shareholder is Mr. M.A. Yaseen with 8.64%. Corporate shareholders include Distilleries Company (8.64%), Renuka City Hotels (2.61%) and Renuka Hotels (1.54%). Other public sector shareholders include NSB (0.51%) and ETF (0.93%).
The directors of the bank are: Messrs. J.M.S. Brito (Chairman), A.S. Abeyewardene, Dr. L.P. Chandradasa, G.K. Dayasri, A.N. Fonseka (CEO), Mrs. S. Gunawardana, C.R. Jansz, J.E.A. Perumal and R.B. Thambiayah.
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