Philippine Business Bank's 9M14 net earnings disappoint with PHP481m

It's 52% lower YoY.

Philippine-based Philippine Business Bank (PBB) posted 9M14 net earnings of PHP481m, 52% lower YoY which accounts for 70% of Maybank Kim Eng's FY14 estimate and 74% of consensus.

According to a research note from Maybank Kim Eng, the bank attributed the decline to uncertainty in the treasury market and higher operating costs from branch and manpower expansion.

It established 8 new branches YTD, ending 9M14 with 108 branches.

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

Loans grew 22% YoY to PHP34.4b boosting interest income up 30% to PHP2b. Deposits grew 27% YoY to PHP43b and drove interest costs 16% to PHP431m.

Net interest income jumped 34.5% to PHP1.7b, in line with our expectations.

However, pre-provision operating income fell 43% to PHP674m, below our expectations, but there were no details provided.

NPL ratio improved to 2.2% from 2.3% last year while NPL cover is 124%.

Capital remained ample with CAR of 21.4%.

In all, 3Q14 net profit of PHP223m was up 7.1% YoY and 53% QoQ.