Nairobi, March 27 -- Equity Group has reported a 6.48 percent net profit drop in the full year ended December 2023, weighed down by a two-fold increase in provisioning for loan defaults.

Net profit retreated to Sh41.98 billion from Sh44.89 billion posted the year before.

Provisioning for non-performing loans (NPLs) jumped 128 percent to Sh32.25 billion from Sh15.4 billion in 2022.

Gross NPLs increased 81 percent to Sh114.6 billion from Sh63.13 billion in 2022.

Equity remains ahead of KCB profitability. KCB posted a net profit drop of 8.3 percent to Sh37.46 billion.

Equity has maintained a dividend payout of Sh4 per share.

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Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Business Daily....