| More loans boost China Merchants Bank's profit |
SHANGHAI, Aug. 11 -- CHINA Merchants Bank Co's profit more than doubled in the first half on rising loans, a wider interest margin and higher fee income.
The bank's net profit rose to 6.12 billion yuan (US$807.7 million) from 2.78 billion yuan a year earlier, the lender said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.
The profit growth was boosted by its net interest income, which rose to 14.7 billion yuan from 9.43 billion yuan in the year-earlier period.
"The profit is quite within expectation as the bank has already said earlier that its profits will more than double in the first half," said Wu Yonggang, a Guotai Jun'an Securities Co analyst.
The bank's outstanding loans at the end of June totaled 629.6 billion yuan, up 11 percent from 565.7 billion yuan at the end of 2006. Its deposits outstanding at the end of June topped 844.6 billion yuan, 9.2 percent up from the end of 2006.
The bank's bad loan ratio dropped from 2.12 percent at the beginning of the year to 1.66 percent at the end of June.
Its capital-adequacy ratio, the main gauge for credit strength, dropped to 10.98 percent from 11.4 percent in the same period.
The figures are based on Chinese accounting standards and are unaudited.
The Shenzhen-based bank is considered the best long-term bet in the country's banking sector by analysts who cite less bad debt, better management and its fee-based model.
The bank now has one third of the country's credit card market and has issued more than 15 million credit cards so far.
Chairman Qin Xiao said in April that the bank aims to expand the size of its network and staff by 10 percent every year. The lender has about 500 outlets nationwide.
Shares of Merchants Bank gained 0.66 percent to 36.34 yuan in Shanghai yesterday against the 0.1-percent drop of the board market.
|
|
