Agricultural Bank on target with 14.5pc profit jump
Agricultural Bank records slowest growth in profit since listing as credit tightens on the mainland and is mulling ways to raise capital
Agricultural Bank of China, the mainland's third-largest lender in terms of market capitalisation, saw the slowest profit growth since its 2010 listing but last year's results were in line with market expectations, with slightly improved credit quality and a more or less stable lending margin.
Net profit rose 14.5 per cent from 2012 to 166.2 billion yuan (HK$207.8 billion), with fourth-quarter earnings falling 38.1 per cent quarter on quarter to 28.2 billion yuan because of slower credit growth on the mainland.
The consensus analysts' estimate compiled by Bloomberg was for annual growth of 14.4 per cent.
"Agricultural Bank may continue to report lower earnings in the coming quarters as curbs on lending on the mainland continue this year," said Kenny Tang Sing-hing, a general manager at AMTD Financial Planning.
The bank was the first of the mainland's Big Four to announce annual results this week. The other three are expected to report their slowest profit growth since the global financial crisis in 2008 amid shrinking margins and surging bad-loan write-offs.
Bank of China reports today, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tomorrow and China Construction Bank on Friday.
Agricultural Bank vice-president Li Zhenjiang said the lender would consider issuing preference shares to raise its capital when the rules governing issuance by banks were laid out by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
