The nation's financial holding companies reported mixed first-quarter results, with Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) posting increases while Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) saw a big plunge in earnings.
Cathay Financial, the nation's biggest financial services company and owner of the nation's largest life insurer, yesterday said that first-quarter profits surged 26 percent.
Unaudited net income rose to NT$10 billion (US$302 million) from NT$7.94 billion a year earlier, Cathay Financial said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The company had a fourth-quarter loss of NT$2.33 billion on provisions for bad credit card debt.
A loss at Cathay's banking unit last year was outweighed by profits at flagship Cathay Life Insurance Co (
recovery
Cathay United Bank (
Cathay Financial's statement didn't provide other figures or give a reason for the rise. It's expected to release a full audited report later this month.
Mega Financial, the nation's third-biggest financial group, posted NT$3.71 billion, or NT$0.34 per share, in first-quarter earnings, up sharply from NT$2.81 billion, or NT$0.25 per share, a year ago, the company said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Taishin Financial, the nation's second-largest financial holding company, yesterday reported that first-quarter earnings plunged 40 percent from a year ago to NT$1.83 billion, or NT$0.26 per share.
Macquarie Research said it has upgraded its rating on Mega Financial to "outperform" from "neutral" with a target price of NT$24.84 on expectations that issues relating to the Rebar Asia Pacific Group's loan default and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co's (
ratings downgrade
The Australian brokerage, however, revised downward its ratings on both Taishin Financial and Chinatrust Financial to "underperform" from "outperform."
Beset by competition, Chinatrust Financial is operating in a low-growth, structurally deficient environment with no positive catalysts evident, while Taishin Financial is still suffering from the consumer credit card crisis with margins hurt by the write-offs and weak pre-provision profitability, Macquarie said.
Chinatrust Financial yesterday said its unaudited net income rose to NT$2.64 billion in the first quarter from NT$824 million a year earlier.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation's fourth-largest financial services company by assets, on Thursday reported a 3.6 percent profit gain in the first quarter compared with a year earlier.
Net income at the company, which owns the nation's largest non-life insurer, was NT$3.41 billion, Fubon Financial said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. That compares with profit of NT$3.29 billion a year earlier.
Fubon Financial, which reported a 21 percent profit decline last year to NT$8.4 billion, said on March 8 it would increase its gains from corporate and investment banking this year and upgrade its wealth management services.
China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), meanwhile, reported a 50 percent decline in first-quarter profit to NT$3.11 billion from NT$6.25 billion a year earlier, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
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