National Development Bank PLC reported third-quarter profit of about Rs 2.9 billion on Thursday. Two verified newsrooms covered the same filing and led on opposite movements — one on a fall, the other on a rise — and both are accurate.

EconomyNext reported at 3.39 p.m. that profit fell 21 per cent to Rs 2.8 billion for the quarter ended 30 September, from Rs 3.5 billion a year earlier, with basic earnings per share down to Rs 6.40 from Rs 8.09. Daily FT reported the same day that the bank posted third-quarter post-tax profit of Rs 2.9 billion and nine-month profit of Rs 7.7 billion against a restated Rs 5.1 billion — a rise of about 51 per cent.

Both framings come from one set of accounts. EconomyNext measured the quarter against the same quarter of 2025; Daily FT measured the nine months against the same nine months. A reader seeing only one filing gets a different bank.

The quarterly figure itself is reported two ways

The two outlets differ by Rs 0.1 billion on the quarter. Daily FT’s figure is the one that reconciles with its own nine-month total: its quarterly sequence of Rs 1.8bn (1Q) + Rs 3.0bn (2Q) + Rs 2.9bn (3Q) sums to exactly Rs 7.7 billion.

EconomyNext’s figure is internally consistent too — Rs 6.40 a share across roughly 432 million shares implies about Rs 2.77 billion. The likeliest explanation is rounding either side of a figure near Rs 2.85 billion rather than an error by either desk, but neither filing states the unrounded number.

What pulled the quarter down

EconomyNext’s detail explains the year-on-year fall, and it is not about the fraud. Interest expenses rose 22.7 per cent to Rs 16.1 billion while interest income rose only 8.8 per cent to Rs 24.1 billion, so net interest income fell 11.2 per cent to Rs 8.1 billion even as gross income rose 4.3 per cent to Rs 27.1 billion. Daily FT puts the nine-month net interest margin at 3.6 per cent, down from 4.1 per cent for the 2025 financial year.

Against that, impairment charges fell 48.4 per cent to Rs 3.0 billion over nine months, and net fee and commission income grew 14.1 per cent to Rs 6.6 billion.

The fraud is the known one, and it did not touch this quarter

Both filings put the fraud at Rs 13.64 billion. That is the figure Deloitte fixed in its final forensic report, which this desk reported on 29 September — Rs 13,639,664,684, about Rs 60 million above the interim figure disclosed on 26 June. Nothing new was detected this quarter.

The distinction that matters for reading the results is in Daily FT’s account: the Rs 2.6 billion recognised in the nine months to September came entirely from the first quarter. The comparable 2025 charge was Rs 4.5 billion. Excluding fraud effects, Daily FT puts nine-month post-tax profit at Rs 9.1 billion against Rs 7.5 billion a year earlier.

The fraud was identified in April, when the disclosure triggered a trading halt and a 15 per cent fall in the share price on resumption.

Balance sheet and the chief executive

Daily FT gives bank total assets of Rs 975.4 billion, deposits of Rs 717.5 billion and net loans of Rs 599.7 billion at 30 September, with total capital adequacy at 14.8 per cent and CET1 at 9.5 per cent. EconomyNext gives total assets of Rs 983.9 billion and deposits of Rs 716.9 billion — a difference consistent with a group rather than bank-only basis, though neither filing says so explicitly.

Director and Chief Executive Kelum Edirisinghe said that “despite the extraordinary circumstances faced, the bank continues to demonstrate strength and resilience,” and that the results “reaffirm the underlying strength and resilience of our franchise.”

EconomyNext reported NDB shares closed at Rs 103.00, down 0.72 per cent, on a day the All Share Price Index fell 1.05 per cent.

Not reported

Neither filing breaks out a third-quarter fraud charge separately from the nine-month figure, states the unrounded quarterly profit, or says whether any of the Rs 13.64 billion has been recovered since NDB engaged a foreign asset-tracing firm.

Daily FT lists a share price of Rs 109.50 among its ratios without stating the date it refers to, so it is not cited here as a market close. Neither filing gives a recovery timetable or an update on the Central Bank directives issued after the fraud.