Bangkok--20 Jul--BBL - Net profit up 24.1% - Non-interest income up 23.2% - Half-year loan growth at 2.7% and deposit growth at 4.6% Bangkok Bank reported preliminary results for the second quarter of 2007 with net profit of Baht 5.3 billion, an increase of Baht 1.0 billion or 24.1 percent from the corresponding period in 2006. Profit before provisioning and tax rose to Baht 9.4 billion, an increase of 34.6 percent year-on-year. Overall, the results showed reasonable growth in assets with increased profitability, as both net interest income and non-interest income increased while non-interest expenses declined. Asset quality also remained under control. The bank’s net interest income in the second quarter of 2007 amounted to Baht 11.6 billion, an increase of Baht 1.0 billion or 9.6 percent from the second quarter of 2006. The improvement was due in part to the maturing of certain borrowings resulting in a decrease of Baht 339 million in interest expenses on borrowing. Net interest margins for the second quarter of 2007 rose to 3.15 percent from 2.95 percent in the corresponding period last year. Non-interest income in the quarter rose by Baht 1.2 billion, or 23.2 percent year-on-year, to Baht 6.5 billion with net gain on sale of equity and debt instruments increasing by Baht 1.5 billion. Fees and service income amounted to Baht 3.7 billion, an increase of 5.4 percent, while gain on foreign exchange amounted to Baht 628 million. Non-interest expenses in the second quarter fell by Baht 173 million or 2.0 percent year-on-year to Baht 8.7 billion. This was largely due to a reduction in the impairment expenses for foreclosed assets. As a result, the cost-to-income ratio fell from 56.1 percent in the second quarter of 2006 to 48.2 percent in this quarter. In the second quarter of 2007, the Bank’s tax expenses rose to Baht 2.6 billion. The increase was largely due to an adjustment of the corporate income tax for 2006 by Baht 807 million because a special charge in 2006 related to certain transferred assets could not be considered as a tax deductible expense. At the end of June 2007, the bank’s total loans amounted to Baht 984.4 billion, an increase of 2.7 percent from year-end, mostly from loans to small- and medium-sized business customers, to consumers and to customers of overseas branches. Deposits rose by 4.6 percent to Baht 1,278.0 billion. Non-performing loans as at the end of June 2007 amounted to Baht 90.3 billion, representing 9.1 percent of the total outstanding loans. The bank set aside provision expenses of Baht 1.4 billion in the second quarter, taking the bank’s total loan loss reserves to Baht 71.1 billion, equal to 78.7 percent of the total non-performing loans. Shareholders’ equity, as of June 30, 2007, stood at Baht 157.7 billion. With the inclusion of the profit for the second quarter of 2007, the bank’s total capital adequacy ratio and Tier 1 capital ratio would be approximately 16.2 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively. Earnings per share for the quarter was Baht 2.79.