This includes a $7.5 million recovery of bad debts and credit allowances, compared to an immaterial provision for credit allowances this year.
The group reported a net income interest (NII) for the FY2024 of $64.7 million, up 18% y-o-y. This was led by loan growth and a 31 basis points (bps) expansion in net interest margin (NIM) to 1.99%.
For the 2HFY2024, total income grew 27% y-o-y to $38.1 million from a 27% rise in NII and 25% increase in non-interest income. Higher NII was driven by loan growth and a 41 bps expansion of NIM to 2.06%.
The non-interest income growth was driven by a surge in fees and commissions to $1.9 million, while costs declined by 2%.
See also: Creative guides for ‘similar level of operating loss’ for 2HFY2025
Asset yield increased by 17 bps to 4.64%, and cost of deposits reduced by 16 bps to 2.99% respectively.
The group’s non-interest income for the FY2024 saw a 58% y-o-y growth to $3.3 million,.
Loan-to-deposit ratio normalised to 91.2% from 84.3% in FY2024 compared to the same period a year before. This is due to the release of higher liquidity reserves to mitigate potential spill-over risk from the international banking crisis in 2023 to finance higher customer loans.
See also: Fortress Minerals earnings for 1QFY2026 up 7.2% y-o-y to US$2.48 mil
Earnings per share for FY2024 came in higher at 15.37 cents per share, and at 17.13 cents per share for the 2HFY2024.
Shares in SIF closed 1 cent lower or 0.917% down at $1.08 on Feb 20.
