As earnings season for Botswana's top listed banks gets fully underway, several of the banks have communicated to shareholders that they are anticipating significant bumps in profitability.
BBS Bank, the first indigenous bank to acquire a commercial banking license, is expecting profit before tax for the period ended 31 December 2024 to be 213% to 256% (approximately P60 million to P72 million) higher than the loss before tax of P28 million reported for the period ended 31 December 2023.
In its half year results in October last year, BBS Bank recorded a profit of P5.6 million which was its first period of profitability since 2018.
Access Bank also announced that its profit before tax for the period ended 31st December 2024 will be 150% to 160% (approximately P78million to P83million) higher than the profit for the period ending 31st December 2023 of P 52 million. Access Bank Botswana recorded a profit before tax of P60 million for the half-year ended 30 June 2024, a 235% increase from the P18 million profit that the bank recorded in 2023.
Meanwhile, Stanbic Bank Botswana's profit before tax for the year ended 31 December 2024 is expected to be between 40% and 50% higher than that reported for the comparative period ended 31 December 2023. This translates to an increase of between P264 million and P331 million. The profit before tax for the year ended 31 December 2023 was P661 million.