Agricultural Bank of China (BUY HK$3.20 Bloomberg: 1288 HK | Reuters: 1288.HK)
NIM surges while NPL drops
Price Target : 12-Month HK$ 4.61
by Alexander LEE CFA (852) 2971 1930 alexander_lee@hk.dbsvickers.com,
Shujin Chen (852) 2820 4920 shujin_chen@hk.dbsvickers.com,
Nicole WU (852) 2820 4919 nicole_wu@hk.dbsvickers.com
• FY13 results in line with market expectations
• Strong NIM and asset quality trends
• Maintain BUY; most defensive; to benefit from preferred stock trial
Earnings growth in line with market expectations. ABC’s FY13 net profit grew 15% to Rmb166bn, largely in line with market expectations. Positive trends on NIM, cost efficiency, and credit cost continued in 4Q13 while fee income slowed down. 4Q13 net profit grew 13% y-o-y to Rmb28bn, driven by ~15bps NIM surge q-o-q due to better loan and investment yields and stable deposit costs. 4Q13 fee income declined 5% y-o-y, impacted by regulator’s investigation on financing related fee charges for the entire quarter.
Asset quality is the highlight. NPL ratio was 1.22% at end-2013, declining by 2bps q-o-q and 11bps y-o-y, thanks to better asset quality of medium-and long-term corporate loans and residential mortgage loans. NPL migration rate was 0.57% in 2013, similar to 2012, and occurred mostly in manufactoring and steel-trading industries. The bank has disposed Rmb4.1bn NPL packages to AMC in 2013 and recovered 35% of the principal. These NPL packages were previously covered by 85% provisions. Management indicated there is likely to be pressure on 2014 asset quality and expects a slight increase in NPL but stable NPL ratio.
Maintain BUY. We continue to like ABC for its strong deposit franchise and ample provision reserve. We believe the bank will be less impacted by interest rate liberalisation due to its unique client concentration in county areas. The bank will also benefit from the potential trial program on preferred stock, pending CBRC’s official document. We think ABC is a defensive choice among the big-4 banks amid market concerns over macro-economic growth slowdown, liquidity tightening and interest rate liberalisation.