DBS expects net profit to increase more than expected in first quarter of this year By Reuters

Posted by Yantoultra Ngui

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s largest bank DBS Group (OTC:) said on Thursday it expects its net profit this year to increase from 2023 after first-quarter net profit rose 15%, a better-than-expected 15%, on the back of strong total revenue. growth.

Gross income growth was expected to be one to two percentage points higher than previous guidance of mid-single digits, according to DBS CEO Piyush Gupta’s outlook observation slide accompanying the results.

He said in a slide that he expects group net interest income to be slightly better than 2023 levels.

Commercial book non-interest income growth was expected to be in the mid to high teens due to better-than-expected momentum in asset management and treasury client sales, according to the slide.

DBS, the first Singaporean lender to report this earnings season, reported January-March net profit of $2.96 billion ($2.18 billion) from $2.57 billion a year ago, driven by stable net interest margins, higher fee income and treasury clients. dollars) has increased. sales.

That beat the $2.48 billion average estimate of five analysts, according to LSEG data.

Quarterly net income was the highest since the $2.69 billion it reported in the second quarter of 2023.

Return on equity (ROE) also reached an all-time high of 19.4% in the first quarter, up from 18.6% in the same period last year.

DBS, which is also Southeast Asia’s largest lender, announced a dividend of 54 Singapore cents per share for the first quarter.

DBS’ net interest margin, a key measure of profitability, rose slightly from 2.12% in the same period last year to 2.14% in the current quarter.

($1 = 1.3600 Singapore Dollars)