Bank of East Asia beats with 10pct net-profit rise

Bank of East Asia Ltd, Hong Kong’s fifth-largest lender by assets, said Thursday its first-half net profit rose 10 percent, driven by a rise in interest income and gains from financial assets it holds.

Net profit rose to 2.99 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$386 million) from HK$2.71 billion a year earlier. The result was above the average HK$2.40 billion forecast of five analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

The Hong Kong lender said net interest income from its core lending operations rose 5 percent to HK$4.62 billion from HK$4.4 billion. Net fee and commissions income gained 9.5 percent to HK$1.66 billion from HK$1.52 billion. The result was helped by HK$278 million of fair-value gains from financial instruments, reversing from a HK$179 million loss a year earlier.

Bank of East Asia-which has more than 220 branches worldwide, including more than 100 in China-proposed a dividend of HK$0.43 a share for the period, unchanged from last year.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-east-asia-beats-with-10-net-profit-rise-2012-08-02

 

Category: Hong Kong