Shares in Bank of Georgia (BGEO) are 171% higher than they were three years ago and up more than 20% in just the last six months to all-time highs of nearly £36.More good news if you are a shareholder is that the European lender has raised its interim dividend by 65% to 3.06 lari (0.92 pence) per share, while the board has approved a further 62 million (£18.6 million) of share buybacks.

Improvements to its balance sheet, a growing Georgian economy – with GDP up 7.6% year-on-year – have both played a role in making this stock one of the best performers since the pandemic, considerably outshining its UK banking peers.

The Tbilisi-based bank reported an impressive 39% surge in net interest income for the six months to 30 June to 768 million lari (£230 million) and a 44% increase in net fee income to 201 million lari (£60 million).

Broker Peel Hunt said the profit was ahead of consensus and ‘should provide the basis for estimate upgrades’.

The broker said the results appear ‘strong and clean’, continuing the company’s positive momentum, whilst the valuation multiples, ‘allow for potential upside’.

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