BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets and controlled by retail tycoon Henry Sy, will declare regular cash dividend on common shares for the fourth quarter this year after realizing surplus profits in the first nine months.
BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday it would declare a cash dividend of P0.30 per share payable on Dec. 29, 2017 to all stockholders of record as of Dec. 19, 2017.
BDO posted a net income of P20.4 billion in the first nine months, up 5 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by the sustained growth in core lending, deposit-taking and fee-based businesses.
Net income would have grown by 17 percent after excluding extraordinary items primarily related to the consolidation of its life insurance business (BDO Life) in 2016.
Net interest income grew 23 percent to P59.8 billion on the back of the 18-percent increase in customer loan portfolio to P1.7 trillion as broad-based expansion was seen across all market segments.
Asset growth was funded by the 15-percent hike in total deposits to P2.1 trillion, buoyed by the 20-percent increase in current account/savings account or CASE, representing 73 percent of total deposits.
Non-interest income rose 9 percent to P34.8 billion. Fee-based income expanded rose 30 percent to P20.8 billion, while insurance premiums increased 19 percent to P7.2 billion. Trading and foreign exchange income as expected dropped 26 percent to P3.3 billion.
Operating expenses grew 20 percent to P63.6 billion. But on a comparable basis net of extraordinary items, operating expenses would have risen by just 13 percent in line with the bank’s business expansion.
BDO remained prudent and set aside P4.4 billion in provisions even as gross non-performing loan ratio and NPL cover remained steady at 1.3 percent and 136 percent, respectively.
The bank’s capital base stood at P294.7 billion, with common equity tier 1 and capital adequacy ratio both comfortably above the current regulatory minimum under the Basel 3 framework at 13.4 percent and 15.1 percent, respectively.
Earlier, BDO aimed to raise net profit this year by 10 percent year-on-year to P28.81 billion amid the robust domestic economy that would sustain the expansion of core businesses.
BDO has one of the largest distribution networks, with more than 1,100 operating branches and over 3,800 automated teller machines nationwide. It also has a branch in Hong Kong as well as 26 overseas remittance and representative offices in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.