Philippine asset stake sale boosts DBS' quarterly profits

1Q profits soared by 30%.

According to OCBC Investment Research, DBS' PATMI for the quarter came in at S$1,231m, up 30% YoY mostly due to a one-time S$223m gain from a stake sale of the Bank of Philippine Islands.

Here's more:

Excluding one-time items, 1Q14 net profit of S$1,033m is up 9% YoY and constitutes 27.3% of our full year forecast; we judge this set of results to be above consensus (Bloomberg: 877m) and our expectations, with the main variance versus our forecast coming from a set of firmer than anticipated Non-Interest Income. 1Q14 Net Interest Income increased 12% YoY to S$1,488m, while Non-Interest Income over 1Q14 declined 3% YoY to S$963m.

The decline in Non-Interest Income was mostly caused by lower contributions from stockbroking (-31% YoY), investment banking (-33% YoY) and net trading income (-11% YoY). Customer loans grew 2% QoQ to S$253.3b as at end 1Q14 and NIM increased to 1.66% versus 1.61% in 4Q13. The cost-to-income ratio eased from 47.9% in 4Q13 to 42.5% in 1Q14.