China Merchants Bank's 2008 net profit surges 38.27%

Apr. 27, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China Merchants Bank Co Ltd<600036><3968>, the nation's fifth largest bank by market value, announced that its net profit surged 38.27% from the previous year to RMB 21.08 billion. The earnings per share were RMB 1.43, indicating a year-on-year increase of 37.5%.

The bank attributed the strong growth to the surge in net interest revenue and non-interest income, which rose 38.3% and 19.37% compared with a year ago, respectively.

The bank's total assets rose 19.9% year on year to RMB 1.57 trillion as the end of 2008, while the capital adequacy ratio was 11.34%, up 0.94% from a year earlier.

The bank's non-performing loans fell RMB 717 million from the previous year to RMB 9.68 billion, while the non-performing loan ratio decreased 0.43% to 1.11%.

However, the asset impairment arising from investment in American bonds and the purchase of Wing Lung Bank<0096> had a negative impact on the bank.