LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Georgian bank TBC Bank posted lower second-quarter pre-tax profits on Friday on the back of increased operating expenses but chose to reiterate both medium-term and full-year targets.

TBC said second-quarter operating expenses had widened 21.5% to GEL 163.65m (£49.88m), leading to a pre-tax profit of GEL 262.62m (£80.06m) for the period.

Operating profits, on the other hand, rose 12.4% to GEL 464.1m (£141.49m), overall profits for the period came to GEL 234.56m (£71.51m) and net interest income increased 25% year-on-year to GEL 303.6m (£92.56m).

Looking forward, TBC said its "strong financial and operating results" provided the group with confidence that it was "on the right track" to achieve growth and profitability targets and had led it to reiterate its medium-term targets for key financial measures- a return on equity of above 20%, a cost to income ratio below 35%, a dividend payout ratio of 25-35% and annual loan growth of 10-15%.

Separately, TBC declared an interim dividend of GEL 2.5 (0.76p) per share, payable on 14 October, and announced a share buyback programme that will see the group snap up as much as GEL 75.0m (£22.85m) of its own shares.

As of 0830 BST, TBC shares were up 3.58% at 1,601.41p.



Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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