| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Philippines' BPI sees profit ahead
MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the country's second-largest lender, said Thursday it expects better profits this year despite a slow start in the first quarter. President Xavier Loinaz said consumer loan demand was growing, although the corporate side, particularly in the manufacturing sector, remained weak. "We think we'll do better than last year," he told reporters on the sidelines of the bank's annual shareholders' meeting. "The aspiration is always to improve, improve, improve." BPI, owned by Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corp and Singapore's DBS Bank, posted consolidated net income of 5.17 billion pesos ($97.5 million) last year, slightly down from 5.25 billion pesos in 2001. Loinaz said the bank was likely to post flat earnings in the first quarter of this year. It had net income of 1.48 billion pesos in January to March 2002. "The business for the last three months has not been all that exciting, it's kind of flat," he said. "We're talking about loans, we're talking about earnings. We haven't seen any major pick-up in business." BPI shares closed half a peso or 1.43 percent lower at 34.5 pesos, while the main index rose one percent. BPI said it was likely to set aside 1.2 billion pesos in loan-loss provisions this year, about the same amount as in 2002. Loinaz said BPI has set up a pool of foreclosed assets worth 4.5 billion to five billion pesos in book value, which it had offered to sell to three big overseas institutions. He said a deal to sell the assets was likely to be signed within two months. The assets, mostly located in Manila and the central island of Cebu, are part of 15 billion pesos of foreclosed properties the bank had said it planned to unload. Loinaz said the bank's plan to expand in Southeast Asia was "on hold" due to global uncertainties related to the war in Iraq. BPI had said it was looking at possible investments in the region and was interested in buying a stake in Indonesia's Bank NISP. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
