ID :
198697
Tue, 08/02/2011 - 11:54
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/198697
The shortlink copeid
Woori Finance swings to profit in Q2
(LEAD) SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- Woori Finance Holdings Co., South Korea's top banking group by assets, said Tuesday that it returned to profit in the second quarter on a sharp rise in non-interest income.
Net profit came to 791 billion won (US$752 million) in the April-June period, a sharp turnaround from a net loss of 338 billion won a year earlier, the group said in a regulatory filing.
The second-quarter bottom line was better than the market consensus of 711.1 billion won in a poll of analysts by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.
Revenue, however, fell 17.2 percent on-year to 8.6 trillion won, and operating profit came in at 1.21 trillion won, a turnaround from a 355.8 billion won operating loss a year earlier.
In the first half of the year, net income reached 1.29 trillion won, compared with a 754 billion won profit a year earlier, it added.
Shares of Woori Finance fell 2.11 percent to close at 13,950 won on the Seoul bourse. The results were announced after the stock market closed.
The group, which the government is seeking to privatize, said its stronger bottom line was due mainly to the proceeds from the sale of its stake in Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. The April sale fetched around 955 billion won.
"Despite increased costs on bad debt, which came as part of the group's efforts to clean up sour loans, Woori Finance succeeded in improving its asset quality as well as net profit, helped by the stake sale," the group said in a statement.
The group's net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, stayed unchanged at 2.53 percent from three months earlier.
The top player's total assets, however, climbed to 357.6 trillion won as of end-June, up from 346 trillion won three months earlier.
The group said its flagship Woori Bank logged a net profit of 765 billion won in the second quarter, up from 419 billion won a year ago.
The government is trying to privatize Woori Finance after rescuing it with taxpayer money in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
The government is set to receive preliminary bids for its $6 billion stake in the top banking group by Aug. 17. Three local private equity funds -- Vogo Fund, MBK Partners and TStone Corp. -- submitted letters of intent (LOI) to buy a minimum 30 percent of the government's 56.97 percent stake. No banking group submitted an LOI.
Net profit came to 791 billion won (US$752 million) in the April-June period, a sharp turnaround from a net loss of 338 billion won a year earlier, the group said in a regulatory filing.
The second-quarter bottom line was better than the market consensus of 711.1 billion won in a poll of analysts by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.
Revenue, however, fell 17.2 percent on-year to 8.6 trillion won, and operating profit came in at 1.21 trillion won, a turnaround from a 355.8 billion won operating loss a year earlier.
In the first half of the year, net income reached 1.29 trillion won, compared with a 754 billion won profit a year earlier, it added.
Shares of Woori Finance fell 2.11 percent to close at 13,950 won on the Seoul bourse. The results were announced after the stock market closed.
The group, which the government is seeking to privatize, said its stronger bottom line was due mainly to the proceeds from the sale of its stake in Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. The April sale fetched around 955 billion won.
"Despite increased costs on bad debt, which came as part of the group's efforts to clean up sour loans, Woori Finance succeeded in improving its asset quality as well as net profit, helped by the stake sale," the group said in a statement.
The group's net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, stayed unchanged at 2.53 percent from three months earlier.
The top player's total assets, however, climbed to 357.6 trillion won as of end-June, up from 346 trillion won three months earlier.
The group said its flagship Woori Bank logged a net profit of 765 billion won in the second quarter, up from 419 billion won a year ago.
The government is trying to privatize Woori Finance after rescuing it with taxpayer money in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
The government is set to receive preliminary bids for its $6 billion stake in the top banking group by Aug. 17. Three local private equity funds -- Vogo Fund, MBK Partners and TStone Corp. -- submitted letters of intent (LOI) to buy a minimum 30 percent of the government's 56.97 percent stake. No banking group submitted an LOI.
