UOB leads Singapore blue-chip losses on lower Q4 earnings, Wall Street tumble
Lender ends Tuesday 4.1% down after news of its fourth-quarter net profit falling 7% to S$1.41 billion
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[SINGAPORE] Shares of UOB hit a one-month low in early trade on Tuesday (Feb 24) after the lender posted a 7 per cent decline in fourth-quarter profit.
As at 9.13 am, the counter had fallen as much as 4.6 per cent or S$1.80 to S$37, with over 1.7 million shares changing hands. This marked the stock’s lowest price in more than a month, as it last traded lower on Jan 22.
The stock later pared some losses and finished the day at S$37.20, still down by 4.1 per cent or S$1.60, with around 9.9 million shares transacted.
This came as UOB’s net profit for the quarter ended Dec 31 fell 7 per cent to S$1.41 billion amid margin pressures from lower benchmark rates, missing the S$1.44 billion consensus estimate of a Bloomberg survey.
UOB’s peers DBS and OCBC retreated as well on Tuesday. DBS fell 0.5 per cent or S$0.29 to S$57.86 and OCBC declined 1.2 per cent or S$0.26 to S$21.43.
Among other Straits Times Index components, ST Engineering , Jardine Matheson and Thai Beverage also registered losses after the Dow Jones plunged 822 points or 1.66 per cent overnight on Wall Street. By market close, ST Engineering fell 1.9 per cent or S$0.20 to S$10.24; Jardine Matheson dropped 1.7 per cent or US$1.33 to US$78.83; and ThaiBev was down 1.1 per cent or S$0.005 at S$0.47.
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UOB results
For Q4, UOB’s total income fell 5 per cent to S$3.3 billion, primarily due to lower net interest income. Its net interest margin stood at 1.84 per cent.
The bank’s full-year net profit declined 23 per cent to S$4.7 billion, which was attributed to its decision to set aside close to S$1 billion in allowance provisions during the third quarter.
For FY2025, its total income dropped to S$13.8 billion at the group level, from S$14.3 billion previously. Net interest margin came in at 1.89 per cent.
The lender announced a dividend of S$0.71 per share for its second half ended Dec 31. This takes its total net dividend for the full year to S$1.56 per share, and reflects a payout ratio of 50 per cent, which means that around half of UOB’s net profit is returned to shareholders as dividends.
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