China CITIC Bank Posts Low-Single-Digit Earnings Growth in First Half
China CITIC Bank (HKG: 0998, SHA: 601998) posted low-single-digit earnings growth for the first half of the year as its asset quality remained stable and its business continued to expand.Net profit attributable to shareholders rose 3.1% to 37.6 billion yuan from 36.5 billion yuan a year earlier, with diluted earnings per share increasing 3.3% year on year to 0.63 yuan from 0.61 yuan.Operating income climbed 4.3% to 110.4 billion yuan from 105.8 billion yuan the previous year, according to a Wednesday filing with the Hong Kong bourse.CITIC said it maintains sufficient risk absorption capacity while its asset quality remained stable. Its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio remained flat year on year at 1.15%, while its allowance coverage ratio slipped 0.49 percentage points from a year earlier to 203.12%. The NPL balance at the end of the reporting period grew 2.57% to 68.9 billion yuan.The lender's business scale maintained steady growth, with total loans and advances rising 2.50% to 6.01 trillion yuan. Net loans and advances to customers as a share of total assets held steady at 56.7%.Meanwhile, bond investments grew 1.82% to 2.278 trillion yuan, driven by increases in holdings of both government and corporate debt securities.The lender proposed an interim cash dividend of 2.03 yuan per 10 shares.
