What it is
A quarterly report covers part of a year. Comparing three months of profit with last year's twelve makes no sense, so banks scale it up: Q1 profit × 4, half-year profit × 2, nine-month profit × 4/3.
This is the 'annualised' EPS most Nepali filings print. It assumes the rest of the year looks like the part already seen. It often does not.
In Q4 the annualised and actual EPS are the same, because the whole year is in.
How it is calculated
Annualised EPS = Year-to-date EPS × (12 ÷ months elapsed). Q1: × 4; Q2: × 2; Q3: × 4/3; Q4: × 1.
Worked on Nabil Bank Limited, FY 2082/83 Q4
NABIL's FY 2082/83 Q4 report is the full year, so annualised EPS Rs 28.36 equals the plain EPS Rs 28.36. In the Q1 report, the quarter's EPS would have been multiplied by four.
NABIL's share capital includes Rs 500.00 crore of preference shares, so per-share figures here use its 27,05,69,970 ordinary shares, as the filing does.
What good looks like
Use it for a rough comparison with last year's full EPS. Expect Q4 to come in different from Q1's annualised guess, often lower because year-end provisions and bonus are booked in Q4.
Watch out
- Annualised is a projection; the actual year can be well below it.
- Some filers print both plain and annualised EPS side by side; do not mix them.
- Q4 provisions and staff bonus usually pull the real year below the Q3 annualised figure.
- A P/E computed on annualised Q1 EPS is a forecast, not a fact.
In Nepal
NRB's quarterly template does not mandate annualisation, but most Nepali BFIs print 'Basic earnings per share (annualised)'. Punji stores the annualised figure separately (is.eps_annualised) so the two are never confused.
Questions
Year-end costs: audit-driven provisions, staff bonus and tax true-ups land in Q4. The annualised Q3 figure assumed none of that.
The latest annualised EPS is common, but remember it is a projection until Q4. Trailing four-quarter profit is more conservative.