SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Agricultural Bank of China reported a net profit rise of 40 percent for the first half, news likely to lift market sentiment ahead of the dual listing of China's No.3 lender later this week.
The Shanghai Securities News reported on Tuesday that AgBank saw profits rise to 46 billion yuan ($6.8 billion) for the first half, a far more blistering pace of growth than the 26.3 percent in 2009, due to strong lending.
The results are expected to be higher than other major Chinese banks.
"AgBank earnings should have grown at a higher pace than its peers, largely because of solid lending growth in the first half," said Sheng Nan, an analyst with UOB Kay Hian.
AgBank, whose shares are scheduled to start trading on the Shanghai exchange on Thursday and in Hong Kong on Friday, could break all IPO records by raising more than $22 billion if over-allotment shares are added in.
Its commission charges for the first half hit 23 billion yuan, up 60 percent from a year earlier, while new lending grew 11.2 percent, the newspaper said quoting unidentified sources.
Chinese banks extended 4.63 trillion yuan in new loans in the first half of 2010, compared with 7.37 trillion yuan a year earlier, figures released by the central bank last week showed.
AgBank's core capital adequacy ratio was expected to rise beyond 10 percent after collecting its IPO proceeds, Moody's said in a report on Monday.
After the massive fundraising, the Beijing-based bank, the last of China's big banking institutions to go public, still has to confront hurdles managing its vast network and concerns about non-performing loans. (Reporting by Melanie Lee and Michael Wei; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner, Chris Lewis and Valerie Lee)
