Banking group Sasfin reported an 18.84% drop in headline earnings from R106.1m to R86.1m for the six months to end-December 2016 after achieving a 29% increase in earnings for the year to June 2016. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) fell by the same margin from 334.43c to 271.42c. Dividends per share showed a similar decrease of 18.84% to 80cs from 98.57cs in the year-earlier period. Sasfin said the decline in earnings was largely due to two unusual credit losses and a write-down in the group’s investment in Efficient Group. "The volatility in earnings is a function of the lack of granularity of assets in Sasfin, as a small banking group, in comparison to the larger banks. Further reasons for the poor performance were the low growth levels (assets grew by 7.48% and gross loans and advances by 7.89%) and a material increase in expenses in order to comply with new regulations and position Sasfin for strong growth," the group stated.
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