State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines, the country’s third-largest lender in terms of assets, said Wednesday net income in the first semester reached P7.43 billion, nearly unchanged from last year, but exceeding the mid-year target of P6.88 billion by 8 percent.
“We are confident about meeting our full-year target of P13.75 billion, as income from loans and investments remain strong,” LandBank president and chief executive Alex Buenaventura said in a statement.
Revenues from loans rose 7 percent, as gross loan portfolio increased to P597.1 billion from P490.6 billion while income from investments also grew 9 percent to P9.2 billion from P8.4 billion in the same period last year.
Return on equity as of end-June was at 14.55 percent, while net interest margin stood at 3.03 percent, both above latest industry averages.
Total assets grew 15 percent to P1.5 trillion from P1.3 trillion last year. Total deposits jumped 17 percent to P1.32 trillion from P1.13 trillion, while total capital stood at 97.4 billion, a 9-percent hike from the same period last year.
“We continue to double our efforts in strengthening our financial position as we are determined to keep contributing significantly to improving the lives of our priority sectors, especially small farmers and fishers,” Buenaventura said.
LandBank remains the biggest lender to the agricultural sector, especially small farmers and fishers as well as micro-enterprises and SMEs.
LandBank attained a net income of P13.6 billion in 2016, up by 2 percent from P13.3 percent in 2015.
Assets reached P1.4 trillion, up 17 percent from P1.2 trillion in 2015, primarily driven by an 18-percent growth in deposits which rose to P1.24 trillion from P1.05 trillion, on the back of significant increase in private deposits.