OREANDA-NEWS. May 21, 2014. Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) published its First Quarter 2014 report. According to the report, ABC registered a net profit of RMB53,522 million in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 13.75% from the same period last year, and its basic EPS was RMB0.16, a year-on-year increase of RMB0.02.

In the first quarter of 2014, ABC’s financial performance showed signs of continuous improvement. Its annualized average return on total assets was 1.43%, up 0.06 percentage points year on year, and its annualized weighted average return on equity was 24.47%, up 0.19 percentage points year-on-year. The net interest margin was 2.96% and net interest spread 2.81%, a considerable year-on-year increase of 18 and 17 basis points respectively, and the cost-to-income ratio was 28.86%, down 1.71 percentage points year-on-year.

As of March 31, 2014, ABC demonstrably continued its solid business growth. ABC’s total assets reached RMB15,322,116 million and its loans and advances reached RMB7,552,857 million, an increase of 5.22% and 4.54% respectively from the end of last year. ABC’s total liabilities reached RMB14,416,967 million and total deposits RMB12,535,428 million, an increase of 5.10% and 6.13% respectively from year-end 2013.

As of March 31, 2014, ABC’s asset quality remained stable across the board. Its NPL ratio was 1.22%, on par with year-end 2013, and its allowance to NPL ratio was 362.29%, down 4.75 percentage points from year-end 2013.

County-level financial business continued to develop at a fast pace. By March 31, 2014, ABC made RMB2,462,663 million in loans and advances to counties and received RMB5,294,622 million in repayments from them. This is an increase of 4.88% and 6.76% respectively from year-end 201: both percentages are notably higher than the industry average.
As of March 31, 2014, ABC’s core tier 1 capital adequacy ratio, tier 1 capital adequacy ratio, and capital adequacy ratio measured up in accordance with the Regulation Governing Capital of Commercial Banks (Provisional), reaching 9.48%, 9.48% and 11.87% respectively. These capital ratios rose noticeably from year-end 2013.