FILE PHOTO: Customers wait to be served in the banking hall at the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Kencom branch in Nairobi, Kenya July 10, 2018. Picture taken July 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo

NAIROBI, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Kenyan lender KCB Group’sKCB.NR pretax profit for the first half of this year rose 70% to 38.11 billion shillings ($297 million), up from 22.46 billion shillings in the same period in 2023, it said on Wednesday.

The company said its board of directors had recommended an interim dividend payout amounting to 4.8 billion shillings, the biggest interim dividend in its history.

The group also operates in Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Burundi.

The group’s net interest income grew 35% year on year, supported by improved yields and increased lending, KCB said in a statement.

“We delivered a commendable first half of the year, despite strong headwinds in the operating environment, especially in Kenya,” KCB Group Chief Executive Paul Russo said.

($1 = 128.5000 Kenyan shillings)

(Reporting by Hereward Holland and Duncan Miriri; Editing by Alexander Winning)

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