Thailand's Bank of Ayudhya books 11% Q3 profit rise

[BANGKOK] Bank of Ayudhya PCL, Thailand's fifth-largest lender, said on Friday its quarterly net profit rose 10.6 percent from a year earlier, boosted by higher net interest income as a result of strong loan growth from retail clients.

Bank of Ayudhya, controlled by Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, raised its 2016 loan target range to 8 per cent to 9 per cent, from 5 per cent to 6 per cent, after consolidating loans from Cambodia subsidiary Hattha Kaksekar Ltd (HKL), it said in a statement.

In the first nine months of the year, the bank's lending grew 7.7 per cent, mainly due to an 11.2 per cent jump in retail customers after a broad-based expansion in auto hire-purchase, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans, it said.

Excluding loans from the Cambodia unit, loans grew 6.6 per cent, the bank said.

Bank of Ayudhya posted July-September net profit of 5.83 billion baht (S$231 million), higher than the 4.9 billion baht of a year earlier and the 5.53 billion baht average of four analyst estimates in a Reuters poll.

At the end of September, non-performing loans fell to 2.10 per cent of total loans, a new low since the Asian financial crisis, versus 2.20 per cent at the end of June.

The recent acquisition of HKL was a milestone for Bank of Ayudhya, which has expanded into four Southeast Asian neighbours - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam - said President and Chief Executive Noriaki Goto.

After the earnings announcement, Bank of Ayudhya shares rose as much as 2 per cent to 36.75 baht, outperforming a 0.33 percent rise in Thailand's main stock price index.

REUTERS