Method and publishing principles

The Tunis Listed series reads the published accounts of companies listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange, sector by sector. It starts with 10 of the 12 listed banks (excluding BTE and Wifak International Bank).

It publishes three kinds of pages:

1. research notes, which read the accounts of one period;
2. reference pages, which explain one concept and put a figure on it for each company;
3. rankings, one criterion at a time.

The notes give no recommendation and no price target. They describe profiles. They do not say what to buy or sell.

Prime Partners Holdings is a private investment holding company based in Tunis. It invests its own balance sheet. It manages no fund, raises no outside capital and sells no financial service. The notes come from the research carried out for its own investment decisions. They are published as they are, with no solicitation or canvassing of any kind.

No note is commissioned or paid for, by a covered company or by anyone else. Prime Partners Holdings and the companies of its group may hold securities of covered companies. When a covered company has a link with the group, the note says so, with the nature of the link. The link may be a shareholding, a mandate or a common board member.

The figures come from the half-year or annual financial statements that the companies file with the Financial Market Council (CMF), together with the statutory auditors' reports that accompany them. The annual reports that the companies file with the CMF count too: they are only published once the accounts have been audited. No other publication is used as a basis for calculation.

A figure that is not published is left out. It is never estimated. Each note gives the date of the accounts it uses.

A ratio is calculated only when the data are comparable from one company to another. The same formula then applies to all of them. A ratio calculated by a note may therefore differ from the one a company publishes.

Two rates need a further word, because each bank publishes them in its own way: the classified loan ratio and the coverage ratio. A note always says whether it takes the rate published by the bank or computes it with the definition on this page. When it gives both, it names the cause of the gap. Three causes recur: the scope (balance sheet only or with off-balance-sheet commitments, budgetary funds included or not), the treatment of reserved interest, and the provisions counted.

Each note states its calculation rules. A half-year result multiplied by 2 to annualise it is given for indication only.

A bank sometimes publishes the same ratio in its financial statements. If its figure differs from the note's, the two methods are given side by side, as two conventions, and the note says why it keeps its own. Otherwise, the note sticks to its own calculations.

A note goes out only after four checks:

1. every figure is recalculated from the financial statements, with a count of the figures found; a single missing figure blocks the note;
2. the extracted figures satisfy the equalities of the published accounts; for example, banking operating income less banking operating expenses gives NBI;
3. every sentence that states a figure, a rank or a comparison is ticked against its proof;
4. every accounting term is checked against the exact wording of the financial statements.

Each note is signed by those who wrote it. The signature links to the author's profile page.

A note may be reviewed before publication by an outside reader. The reviewer is named as a reviewer, never as an author, and only with written consent. Exchanges with industry practitioners inform some notes; their names appear only with their consent.

An error of substance is corrected in the note itself. It is a figure, an analysis or the meaning of a sentence. The note's update date then moves forward.

Both dates, publication and update, appear in the "How to cite" block of each note. To report an error: contact@primepartners.tn.

Any reuse cites the source and the author, with the link to the note. Otherwise it requires permission. A ready-made attribution line appears in each note:

Analysis published by Prime Partners Holdings. Full note: [note address].

The financial statements cited belong to their issuers.

Each note sets out a reading of published accounts. It is neither investment advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell.

Each term links to the page that explains it in detail.

Classified loans (classified exposures): loans and other commitments that the rules of the Central Bank of Tunisia classify as risky (classes 2, 3 and 4). Their ratio divides these commitments, on and off balance sheet, gross, by all gross customer commitments. Tunisian listed banks: H1 2026, Risk section

Cost of funding: interest paid over the year, divided by average third-party funding, that is the whole balance sheet except equity. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 3

Cost of risk: the line for provisions and value adjustments on loans, off-balance-sheet items and liabilities. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 4

Cost-to-income ratio: overheads divided by NBI, that is the weight of costs in everything the bank produces. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 2

Coverage ratio: the share of classified loans covered by the provisions set aside on them, additional provisions included, and by reserved interest. Collective provisions, which cover class 0 and class 1 commitments, are not counted. Tunisian listed banks: H1 2026, Risk section

Fees: fees received less fees paid, the part of NBI least exposed to interest rates (account keeping, payment means, cards, trade finance). What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 2

Leverage: the number of dinars of balance sheet the bank carries per dinar of equity. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 5

Loan-to-deposit ratio: customer loans divided by customer deposits, which shows how far the bank already uses its deposits. Tunisian listed banks: H1 2026, Funding section

NBI (net banking income): banking operating income less banking operating expenses, that is the bank's revenue before overheads and cost of risk. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 1

Net interest margin: interest received less interest paid, that is what the bank earns on the money it lends once it has paid for the money it borrows. Net interest margin reference page

ROA (return on assets): net profit divided by total assets, that is what each dinar of balance sheet earns. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 5

ROE (return on equity): net profit divided by equity; it is the product of ROA and leverage. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 5

Securities portfolio: the securities the bank holds for its own account, mostly government securities and equity stakes; its income forms a separate line of NBI. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 1

Sight deposits: deposits that pay little or no interest and that the customer can withdraw at any time, the cheapest funding on the balance sheet. What net banking income and net profit do not say, section 3

Solvency: the bank's capacity to absorb losses with its own funds, measured by the total capital ratio. Tunisian listed banks: H1 2026, Capital adequacy section