Taipan Lucio Tan-led conglomerate LT Group Inc. grew its first semester net income attributable to equity holders by 18 percent year-on-year to P6.1 billion, driven mainly by higher earnings booked by banking arm Philippine National Bank.
PNB, now merged with Allied Banking Corp., posted a 126-percent rise in its six-month net profit to P5.3 billion from year-ago level. If compared with the combined P3.2 billion net income of PNB and Allied Bank in the first semester of 2012 before the merger, profit was up by 68 percent year-on-year.
The six-month results translated to a return on equity of 12.8 percent for PNB.
Total operating income of the merged bank reached P15.4 billion in the first semester, up 77 percent year-on-year. This was due to trading gains of P5.7 billion, more than double the P2.55 billion posted a year ago.
Core businesses contributed to the growth despite thinning spreads and high liquidity as net interest income rose by 59 percent year-on-year to P5.9 billion.
PNB grew its loan book by 82 percent year-on-year to P238.7 billion. Net interest margin eased to 2.5 percent from 3 percent in the same period last year.
Total consolidated resources expanded by 3 percent to P563.4 billion.
Net service fees and commission income also rose by 28 percent to P1.2 billion from the previous year’s level.
Total operating expenses rose by 46 percent mainly due to consolidation costs.
In terms of asset quality, PNB’s non-performing ratio dropped to 1.1 percent versus 2.9 percent a year ago.
For parent firm LTG, six-month profit including minority interest amounted to P9.5 billion, 34.6 percent higher year-on-year. Improvements in banking, beverage and property earnings were able to offset the weak performance of tobacco and alcohol products as the effects of the high excise tax increase in 2013 continued to affect sales volume, LTG reported.
Beverage revenue was flat for the first half of 2013 but net income from the beverage segment rose by 12 percent year-on-year to P483 million due to lower operating and interest expenses.