DBH Finance PLC, one of the leading listed non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in Bangladesh, witnessed a year-on-year drop in profits of about 18 percent in the first half of 2024.

The NBFI reasoned that it had to keep a large amount in provisioning against its share market investments.

The profit in the January-June period of 2024 amounted to Tk 40 crore, down from Tk 49 crore in the same period the previous year, according to its financial statements.

The profit declined as the floor price was lifted in the stock markets and the lender set aside Tk 13.6 crore in provisioning, which is 14.74 percent of its investments, according to a disclosure on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) website yesterday.

DBH Finance's net interest income fell 9 percent year-on-year to Tk 81 crore. Its earnings per share stood at Tk 2.05 in the first six months of 2024.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission set the floor price of every stock at the end of July 2022 to halt the free fall of the market indices amid global economic uncertainties.

The floor prices were lifted last January, resulting in the DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, dropping over 1,000 points till June.