Kina Securities confident of strong economic performance

Business

Kina Securities Ltd has announced a net profit of K20.6 million for the first half of this year and is confident of a strong economic performance for PNG, according to chief executive Greg Pawson.
Kina also announced a dividend of 10 toea per share for the first half of this year.
Pawson said this was an increase from last year’s first half results. Last year the net profit after tax was
K10 million and the dividend was 5 toea per share. Pawson said this year’s result was achieved on the back of the restoration of the foreign exchange (Forex) business from its drop in 2016. This year’s result was also supported by progress in interest income through loan growth.
Pawson said Forex revenue was up significantly because Kina was not doing forex in the first half of 2017.
“We are also experiencing increasing volumes due to the expansion of our correspondent banking network and establishing a new partnership with Crown Agents Bank,” Pawson said.
Moreover, he said given a full six months of uninterrupted forex trading, Kina was able to manage relationships with key exporters that enabled it to be a key player in the forex market.
Bank fees income also grew by 23 per cent due mainly to more fees collected from commissions on forex trading. This was because the trading volume increased substantially compared with the same period last year.
“Kina has delivered a solid result that reflects the strength of the management team and the implementation of its digital strategy and strong organisational capacity building,” Pawson said.
According to Kina, despite tighter private sector lending and lower employment growth compared with recent years, the overall economic performance of PNG remained resilient.
A recent survey by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian Public Policy think-tank, ranked PNG ahead of several Australian states for attractiveness for mining investment.
Additionally, recent oil and gas export prices have rebounded in the second quarter of 2018 with any sustained momentum acting to limit downside economic risk.