Kenya's CFC Stanbic 9 month pretax profit down 6 pct

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's CFC Stanbic Bank posted a 6 percent drop in its pretax profit for the first nine months of the year to 980.7 million shillings compared with the same period last year.

Stanbic, majority held by South Africa's Standard Bank, said interest income rose 32 percent to 4.62 billion shillings while operating expenses rose by 72 percent to 3.61 billion shillings, unaudited results showed.

The results on Thursday follow a modest rise in its half-year pretax profit and slower growth reported in August, alongside most Kenyan banks, on the back of weaker economic growth.

Loans and advances to customers dipped to 43.1 billion shillings from 43.31 billion shillings, while loan-loss provisions increased by 38 percent to 500.3 million shillings.

Holdings in Kenya government securities were up 10 percent to 12.56 billion shillings, the bank said.

The bank said its total assets stood at 83.5 billion shillings, from 82.1 billion shillings in the first nine months of 2008.

Customer deposits rose 10 percent to 60.44 billion shillings compared with the year ago period.

The bank's earnings per share dropped by 11 percent to 5.38 shillings compared with a similar period a year ago. Its shares closed Wednesday's trade at 46.00 shillings, compared with a year-high of 150.00 shillings hit on August 8, 2008.