MCB rises most in two months on forecast of better profit

Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) Ltd., the country’s largest lender by market value, climbed the most in two months after the company said earnings will improve this financial year.

The stock advanced 2 rupees, or 1.2 percent, to 172 rupees at the 1:30 p.m. close in Port Louis, the biggest gain since Jan. 5.

“Management told investors yesterday that the bank’s fundamentals are improving whilst at the same time maintaining a strong capital adequacy level of 15 percent, more than the 10 percent requirement of the central bank,” Kishen Nadassen, a senior research analyst of CIM Stockbrokers Ltd., said by phone today from Port Louis. “They maintained that the performance for the second semester will be similar to the first.”

The Port Louis-based lender, which has a 23.7 percent weighting in the Mauritius stock exchange index, said on Feb. 11 net income rose 18 percent to 2 billion rupees ($69 million) for the half-year through December from a year earlier.