TBC Bank Group PLC on Friday declared an unchanged interim dividend with the company reporting ‘robust’ growth in the second quarter.

The Tbilisi, Georgia-based bank said pretax profit increased 12% to ₾390.3 million, approximately £113.2 million, in the second quarter that ended June 30 from ₾349.3 million the previous year.

Total operating income rose 16% to ₾678.4 million from ₾586.8 million, while operating expenses increased 26% to ₾256.6 million from ₾203.6 million.

Net interest income was up 15% to ₾458.1 million from ₾399.3 million, and net fee & commission income rose 17% to ₾123.4 million from ₾105.6 million.

TBC Bank maintained its interim dividend at ₾2.55 per share.

Chief Executive Officer Vakhtang Butskhrikidze said: ‘Our financial services in Georgia continued their robust and profitable growth in 2Q 2024 with our loan book increasing by 19% year-on-year on a constant currency basis.

During the period registered users in Georgia rose 6.5% year-on-year to 3.4 million, while users in Uzbekistan were up 41% to 15.7 million.

‘To support the rapid development of our Uzbekistan business, we invested an additional $23 million into TBC UZ capital, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) each invested $7.6 million. These capital injections provide a great platform for further growth of our core lending products in 2H 2024 and beyond,’ Butskhrikidze added.

Looking ahead, TBC upgraded economic forecasts with real gross domestic product growth in Georgia expected at 7.4% from 6.4% while projections for Uzbekistan now stand at 6.1%, up from 5.6% previously.

TBC Bank shares were up 1.1% to 2,820.00 pence each in London on Friday morning.

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