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Lion Finance Group PLC on Thursday reported higher earnings for the third quarter of 2025 and increased its returns to shareholders. The Tbilisi-based lender said pretax profit rose 6.7% to ₾647.0 million, around £181.2 million, from ₾606.5 million a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share increased 9.5% to ₾12.58 from ₾11.49. Operating income climbed 16% year-on-year to ₾1.08 billion from ₾937.7 million, supported by a 21% rise in net interest income to ₾776.3 million from ₾641.0 million. Alongside the results, Lion Finance declared a third-quarter dividend of ₾2.65 per share. The company also extended its share buyback programme by ₾51.5 million. Chief Executive Officer Archil Gachechiladze said: ‘We delivered another solid quarter, with strong balance sheet growth across our core markets and high profitability for the group. ‘Our performance is supported by the continued strong momentum of the economies in our core markets of Georgia and Armenia, driven by robust domestic demand and solid external inflows. We have maintained our full-year 2025 real GDP growth forecasts at 7.5% for Georgia and 5.0% for Armenia, broadly in line with the IMF’s latest projections of 7.2% and 5.0%, respectively.’ Shares in Lion Finance were 2.9% higher at 7,990.00 pence in London on Thursday morning. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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