Land Bank's profit up by 13% in Q1

THE state-run Land Bank of the Philippines has posted a double-digit net income for the first quarter of this year, owing to higher revenues from loans and investments, an official said on Monday.

Land Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Gilda Pico said the bank's profit reached P3.1 billion from January to March, a 13-percent increase from the P2.8 billion net income during the same period last year and 32 percent higher than the first quarter target.

"The consistent upward trend in our profitability is principally the result of increased revenues in loans and investments. The income results also reflect the bank's institutional focus, aggressive marketing of credit facilities to the priority sectors and the improvements in delivery channels and process efficiencies," she said.

The bank's net loan portfolio grew to P245.5 billion from P241.4 billion in 2011 while investments increased by nine percent to P228.1 billion from P209.8 billion. Capital also remained on the uptrend, increasing substantially by 21 percent to P70.1 billion from P58 billion. Deposits slightly decreased to P468.6 billion from P480.9 billion in March last year.

Capital adequacy ratio improved to 20.5 percent in March 2012 from 17.7 percent of the same period in 2011. Return on equity was at a high 17.4 percent.

"The strong capital ratios are indicative of the Bank's sound financial position and reflect the Bank's capacity to aggressively expand its loan portfolio to farmers and fisherfolk cooperatives, microenterprises and SMEs, agribusiness, local government units and rural banks," Pico added. (SDR)