KARACHI, Oct 22 (Focus Pakistan) - The Meezan Bank profit 2026 figures show how a Rs2.54 billion provision reversal supported quarterly earnings despite a contraction in financing. The board also declared a Rs8 interim dividend. Per share, July-September earnings came to Rs14.20, against Rs11.70 a year ago.
Growth slowed over the longer stretch. Across nine months, Meezan made Rs74.53 billion after tax, roughly 11% more than the Rs67.23 billion it earned a year earlier. Per share, that comes to Rs41.35.
Add Thursday’s Rs8 to the Rs15.50 the bank has already paid this year, and 2026 payouts stand at Rs23.50 a share. Shareholders on the register on Nov 3 will qualify, and the bank will close its share transfer books on Nov 4 and 5. Meezansaid it will send its full quarterly report to shareholders through PUCARS separately.
A provisioning swing flatters the quarter
Profit before tax and credit-loss provisions rose a more modest 13.3% to Rs51.50 billion. The provisions line explains the gap: last year’s third quarter carried a Rs255 million charge, while this year the bank wrote back Rs2.54 billion.
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Funding costs bit hard. Payouts to depositors hit Rs61.29 billion in the quarter, against Rs40.12 billion a year ago, a 52.8% jump. Income from financing and investments grew too, though at roughly half that pace: 26.9%, to Rs130.19 billion. That squeezed net spread growth to 10.3%, at Rs68.91 billion.
Taxes consumed more than half of pretax profit. Of every Rs100 Meezan earned before tax in the quarter, about Rs52.50 went to the government, a Rs28.39 billion bill in all.
Deposits up, financing down
The balance sheet tells the sharper story. Since December, depositors have handed Meezan another Rs632.35 billion, a 19.1% increase that takes the total to Rs3.94 trillion. The bank’s assets now sit at Rs5.40 trillion, against Rs4.81 trillion at the start of the year.
The financing portfolio moved the other way, slipping 2.1% to Rs1.61 trillion. While financing contracted, Meezan’s investment holdings expanded by Rs437.19 billion to Rs3.03 trillion. By Focus Pakistan’s calculation from the filing, the bank’s financing-to-deposit ratio fell to 40.8% from 49.7% in December.
The expanding investment portfolio also carried valuation risks. Meezan’s investment revaluation account swung from a Rs14.38 billion surplus in December to a Rs2.36 billion deficit in September, a deterioration of Rs16.74 billion. Changes in the value of debt and equity investments weighed on shareholders’ equity, including a Rs15.38 billion loss on debt holdings that bypassed the profit and loss account.
Fees and currency trading pick up the slack
Non-funded income gave the bank a cushion. Total other income rose 31.3% to Rs31.31 billion over nine months. Foreign exchange income climbed 72.9% to Rs7.02 billion. Fee and commission income rose 17.2% to Rs19.67 billion, and dividend income more than doubled to Rs2.18 billion.
Costs kept pace. Operating expenses rose 20% to Rs68.97 billion over the period.
The consolidated accounts, which include Meezan’s subsidiaries and associates, tell a slightly different story. Group profit after tax for the third quarter came to Rs26.01 billion, of which Rs25.85 billion belonged to Meezan’s shareholders. Over nine months, profit attributable to shareholders rose 6.7% to Rs73.95 billion, or Rs41.02 a share. The group’s share of associates’ results swung to a Rs346 million loss from a Rs3.20 billion profit a year earlier.
Shareholders’ equity in the bank still grew, rising to Rs297.93 billion from Rs279.26 billion at the end of December.
The results leave Meezan Bank with a striking contrast: deposits and investments have grown rapidly, but its financing portfolio has contracted. Whether the bank can turn that expanding deposit base into stronger financing growth will be an important question in the coming quarters.
