Mauritius Commercial Bank Rises to 3-Year High on Dividend

(Updates with closing price in second paragraph.)

June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Mauritius Commercial Bank, the Indian Ocean island nation’s largest lender by market value, climbed to a more than three-year high after saying it will pay a dividend of 3.25 rupees for the year through June.

The stock advanced 2 rupees, or 1.1 percent to 190 rupees, the highest since February 2008, by the 1:30 p.m. close in Port Louis, the capital.

“The stock price increased following the lender’s dividend announcement yesterday,” Kishen Nadassen, a research analyst at Cim Stockbrokers Ltd., said in a phone interview. “The total dividend has increased by 9.5 percent to 5.75 rupees this year.”

Nadassen added that the dividend attests to “the lender’s good performance and its target of a record profit exceeding 4 billion rupees ($142 million).”

--Editors: Ana Monteiro, Peter Branton

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To contact the reporter on this story: Kamlesh Bhuckory in Port Louis at kbhuckory@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.netundefined