BDO declares 6.5% stock dividend

MANILA, Philippines - BDO Unibank Inc., the main financial arm of the SM Group of Companies, has declared a 6.5-percent stock dividend worth P340.329 million to holders of its preferred shares.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, BDO said the dividend on its Series A preferred shares was approved by its board.

The bank said its board also approved the holding of its annual stockholders’ meeting on April 19. The record date for the stockholders’ meeting is set on March 8.

In the first nine months of 2012, the bank reported a 38-percent increase in its net income to P10.5 billion from P7.6 billion in the same period in 2011.

The increase in earnings was principally due to the sustained growth in its core lending business.

During the nine-month period, BDO also recorded heightened activities in terms of its deposit-taking businesses and improved recurring fee-based service income.

According to the bank’s report, BDO also capitalized on the favorable conditions in the bond markets to realize robust trading gains from its treasury activities.

Gross customer loans expanded 17 percent to P724 billion, while total deposits increased to P860 billion.

This resulted in an improvement in net interest income to P26.8 billion.

Fee-based income increased to P10 billion, driven by the solid growth from the service businesses. Trading and foreign exchange gains jumped 50 percent to P7 billion.

Overall, total non-interest income went up 23 percent to P18.9 billion.

During the period, the bank’s operating expenses inched up to P29.7 billion, while P4.2 billion in provisions were set aside.

Gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio is at 3.1 percent, while gross NPL coverage is at 124 percent.

BDO said it hopes to achieve 19.5 percent growth in net income in 2012 to P12.5 billion from the P10.5 billion it earned in 2011.

BDO, the largest bank in the country today, has more than 750 operating branches and over 1,800 ATMs nationwide.