Accra, Nov. 27, GNA - Ghana Commercial Bank, the most widely distributed bank in Ghana, has recorded an outstanding performance in the=

third quarter of the year posting almost 80 percent increase in interest income. The bank's earnings per share also experienced an upward adjustmen= t, rising by 31.16 per cent over the previous year's figure of GH¢0.0953p for the period.

The Gold Coast Security (GCS) Limited financial analysis of the ba= nk copied to Ghana News Agency on Friday said GCB also rewarded shareholders= in the third quarter with a growth of 2.98 percentage points over the 12.16 per cent captured last year as return on equity. The report said return on assets also increased but marginally, fr= om 1.53 per cent to 1.82 per cent.

GSC says with a current ratio consistently above 1.00 over the fou= r year period, it is safe to say that GCB remains a fairly liquid company. However, on the stock market performance, the GSC Limited reported=

that the bank traded below book value for a greater part of 2009 despite growth in earnings. It said the decline in value per share, was mainly due to the mark= et forces and not the fundamentals of the bank.

"The growing numbers of offers on the market drove the price down way beyond book value during the first and part of the second quarter," he sa= id but noted that the situation has started improving with an upward adjustm= ent in the market price relative to the book value per share. GCB, it said continues to remain a very liquid stock, trading 60 d= ays out of the 64 days of trading within the third quarter of this year. It recorded a volume of 5,466,400 shares exchanging hands, representing 0.16 per cent of the total volume traded over the period. Value traded was also GH¢4,183,293 and accounted for 0.18 per ce= nt of the total value traded between July 2nd to September 30th this year 27 Nov. 09