* Increases customers by 60 percent to 1.6 million
* Eyes a similar growth rate in 2011 - CEO
* Says S.Sudan JV still in progress, eyes more
* Shares fall as much as 15 percent
(Recasts, adds analyst, shares)
By Duncan Miriri
NAIROBI, March 10 (Reuters) - Co-operative Bank of Kenya recruited more customers, increased deposits and loans to post a 55 percent jump in pretax profit and set a similar target for 2011.
Firmly rooted in the east African country's vibrant co-operative movement, the bank has a financial supermarket model that includes a stockbroking arm, a fund manager and a stake in an insurance firm.
The bank doubled its dividend per share to 0.4 shillings ($0.004) on a pretax profit of 5.77 billion shillings.
"We have set ourselves a similar growth target for this year," Chief Executive Gideon Muriuki said on Thursday, while downplaying concerns about the country's political situation.
"Nobody likes the headlines we are seeing but those headlines have always been with us."
Optimism surrounding the enactment of a new constitution in August last year has been clouded by a row between the president and the prime minister over key government posts.
Uncertainty deepened this week when the International Criminal Court issued summons for six prominent people, including the finance minister, suspected of masterminding the bloody post-election crisis of 2008.
Co-operative said its customers jumped to 1.6 million in 2010 from 1 million after an aggressive campaign that requires all members of staff, including Muriuki, to bring in accounts.
That drove customer deposits up 35 percent to 123.9 billion shillings while the loan book rose 39 percent to 86.6 billion. Non-funded income was up by nearly a third to 6.48 billion.
"We project continued growth in 2011," Muriuki said, citing the fact that most of the existing loans are facilities with terms of three to six years.
SHARES FALL
The bank's shares initially fell 15 percent after the results, then recovered some ground to trade down 2.9 percent at 18.45 shillings at 0906 GMT in a generally weaker market, which fell to an 11-month low in Wednesday's session.
"This (full year profit growth) marked a deceleration versus the third quarter rate. Dividend was hiked to 40 cents a share but that remains a lot thinner than pay outs from its peer group," said Aly Khan Satchu, an independent analyst.
"The bourse has turned defensive and these results missed expectations, admittedly not by much, but in such a market, a small miss is to miss by a mile."
Another analyst said the results were good, adding that they reflected growth in the core business.
"They have grown their loans. They want to increase lending and on top of that they are remunerating shareholders with a bigger dividend. Those are the fundamentals you look for in a bank," said Michael Gichohi, head of Suntra Investment Bank.
Risks to the bank's outlook include an emerging drought, rising inflation and the depreciation of a the Kenyan currency.
Co-operative's Muriuki said plans to launch operations in the region through joint ventures were progressing, starting with soon-to-be-independent South Sudan, where the bank is working on a joint venture in which the government will hold 30 percent.
"We have been talking to the co-operative movement in Rwanda, Uganda but our priority remains South Sudan for now. We believe the market there is huge, the economy is huge and the potential is big," he said. (Editing by Erica Billingham) ($1=84.15 Kenyan Shilling)