Allied Bank net income up 17% to P669M in H1

MANILA, Philippines - Allied Banking Corp., a commercial bank of the Lucio Tan Group, said its net income reached P668.817 million in the first six months of 2011, roughly 17 percent higher than the P574 million realized in the same period last year.

In the second quarter alone, net earnings amounted to P459 million, more than doubled from the P196.5 million a year ago.

In the first semester of 2011, total loans amounted to P2.85 billion or slightly higher than the P2.799 billion in the same period last year. Total loan portfolio as of end-June 2011 stood at P82.9 billion.

However, gains from trading and other investment fells a little over eight percent, or from P1.51 billion in the first semester of 2010 to P1.39 billion in the same period this year.

Deposits likewise slipped slightly to P1.15 billion this year from P1.25 billion last year. However, total deposit portfolio stood at P132.6 billion.

Part of the reason for a relatively modest gain in net earnings was the slight increase in operating expense which grew from P4.6 billion in the first six months of 2010 to P4.9 billion this year.

The bank noted increases in the cost in taxes and licenses and compensation, including fringe benefits and other miscellaneous expense, plus provisioning for possible losses.

Non-performing loans (NPLs) stood at P3.7 billion, resulting in an NPL ratio of 4.36 percent. Return on equity was reported at 6.38 percent. Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio (CAR) was recorded at 12.12 percent while total CAR at 14.45 percent.

In 2010, Allied Bank reported a net income of P1.29 billion from P1.19 billion in 2009.

The bank has been poised to merge with the Philippine National Bank (PNB) another Tan-owned bank, for the last two years but remains hampered by regulatory issues.

Allied Bank has exposures to US-based Oceanic Bank, and US and Philippine monetary regulators require that Allied Bank unload all its equity holdings with Oceanic before it can push through with the merger.

But to date, there are no buyers for the Oceanic Bank stake as the US economy remains depressed, as more US banks are closing down.