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Industrial Bank profit soars

(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-08 09:09

Industrial Bank Co said its 2006 profit surged 51 percent due to growth in loans and fee-based services.

It is the latest in a string of listed banks to forecast a profit growth in 2006.

The Fujian Province-based lender's net income climbed to 3.72 billion yuan (US$479 million) from 2.47 billion yuan, the bank said in an unaudited, preliminary earnings statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

Its earnings per share rose to 0.93 yuan from 0.62 yuan a share in the same period.

The lender's operating profit, including net interest and fee income, gained 42 percent to five billion yuan, the bank said.

Its share sale topped 16 billion yuan as the first initial public offering this year on the Shanghai bourse.

The booming economy, which grew by 10.7 percent last year, is triggering a bigger appetite for lending and financial services.

Shenzhen Development Bank, controlled by US buyout firm Newbridge Capital LLC, in January said its 2006 profit surged at least fourfold.

China Merchants Bank Co, the country's sixth-biggest lender, said net income last year surged more than 50 percent, while Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co posted a 31 percent gain.

Beijing-based China Minsheng Banking Corp, the country's sole privately controlled bank, said 2006 profit probably rose 40 percent, while Huaxia Bank forecast 13 percent growth.

HSBC's Hang Seng Bank unit owns 12.78 percent of Industrial Bank. International Finance Corp, the World Bank's private investment arm, has a 3.2 percent stake, and a unit of Government of Singapore Investment Corp holds four percent.