March 5 (Reuters) – Colombian financial conglomerate Grupo Aval posted a year-over-year rise in net profit in the fourth quarter, a securities filing showed on Tuesday, as their investment portfolio experienced positive returns in line with positive financial markets performance.
Net profit came in at 82.9 billion Colombian pesos ($21.03 million), in the October through December period.
Meanwhile, the conglomerate reported interest income in the period up to 20.8% 7.42 trillion pesos.
However, net interest income came at 1.53 trillion, down 13.3% from a year earlier.
The company said the Colombian peso appreciated 20.5% relative to the US dollar over the year.
“This context reflected an under-par year for our business” it said in a statement.
Although Grupo Aval’s non-financial sector business was a strong contributor to the positive results, it fell in 2023 by 29.2% when compared with 2022.
The financial portfolio of Grupo Aval (GAA.CN), opens new tab includes Colombian banks Banco de Bogota (BBO.CN), opens new tab, Banco Popular (BPO.CN), opens new tab, Banco AV Villas (VLL.CN), opens new tab and Banco de Occidente (BOC.CN), opens new tab.
($1 = 3,942.2100 Colombian pesos)
(This story has been corrected to show that the net interest income fell, and not interest income, in paragraph 4)
