Bank of Abyssinia (BoA), one of the oldest private banks, doubled its net profit in the last fiscal year, placing itself in the list of the top three profitable banks.

The Bank's net profit grew by 48pc to over 786 million Br and earnings per share (EPS) rose to 7.23 Br from 6.11 Br. However, last year's EPS value is still two Birr less than what it was two years ago. The Bank's shares have a par value of 25 Br.

Meseret Taye, the board chairperson of the Bank, attributes the rise in paid-up capital to the stagnation of EPS growth. The 23-year-old Bank's paid-up capital has increased by 9.7pc to 2.8 billion Br.

Considering the external environment in the past fiscal year, the performance of the Bank was satisfactory, according to Meseret.

"Last year the insecurity in different parts of the country increased," said Meseret, "and the gain of the Bank in this situation is commendable."

Bank of Abyssinia's revenue from financial intermediation, especially from service charges and commissions, increased by 20pc and reached 606 million Br. The revenue increase has positively contributed to the rise in profits.

Abdulmenan Mohammed, a financial statement analyst with close to two decades of experience, commended the Bank’s performance.

“The management of the Bank needs appreciation for this achievement,” he said.

Desalegn Yizengaw, vice president of the Bank in charge of financial management, also said that increased gains from interest income contributed to the huge leap in profit.

The Bank’s interest on loans, advances and NBE bills reached 3.5 billion Br, a growth of 29pc.

Earnings from foreign exchange dealing increased to 81 million Br from 12 million Br, flat with what it was two years ago. Yet it was still less than 40pc of the level in 2016/17.

Abdulmenan urges the management of the Bank to improve its performance on foreign exchange earnings.

The marked increase in revenue was accompanied by a huge expansion in expenses. It paid 1.5 billion Br in interest, a 43pc increase from the previous year. Employees' salaries and benefits also increased by 14pc to 984.2 million Br, while general administration went up by 33pc to 624.4 million Br.

The management structure revision, which was adopted in the middle of last year as part of the new five-year strategy of the Bank, has contributed to an expansion in expenses, according to the vice president of the Bank.

Even though the expenses of the Bank are high, Abdulmenan believes that the Bank was able to control the expenses.

“Considering the expansion of business and the level of inflation, it shows that personnel expenses are well controlled,” Abdulmenan stressed.