S.Africa's Abil misses estimates with FY profit

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - African Bank Investments reported an 18 percent rise in annual profit on Monday that missed market expectations, a sign that demand for unsecured lending could be cooling in Africa's top economy.

The South African mass-market lender said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 342.5 cents in the year to end- September, compared with 291 cents a year earlier.

A poll of 12 analysts had expected earnings to increase 25 percent to 362 cents, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Headline EPS, which excludes some one-time and financial items, is the main measure of profit in South Africa.

The company said it increased dividends by 5 percent to 195 cents, higher than the 183 cents expected by in the poll of analysts.

Interest income rose 36 percent to 9.9 billion randand non-interest income rose 12 percent to 3.3 billion rand.

Abil shares are down 13 percent this year, compared with over 14 percent growth by Johannesburg Top-40 index.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africas-abil-misses-estimates-fy-profit-064622138--finance.html

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