Bank of China first-quarter profit rises 1.7%

    BANK of China Ltd., the country’s fourth-biggest lender by assets, posted a 1.7 percent rise in first-quarter net profit yesterday, even as bad loans weighed on its balance sheet.

    Profit rose to 46.6 billion yuan (US$7.18 billion) in the three months ended March 31, from 45.8 billion yuan a year earlier. While the bank said its nonperforming loan ratio remained flat at 1.43 percent at end-March from end-December, the ratio of its allowance for loan impairment losses fell to 149.07 percent, below 150 percent guideline of China’s banking regulator.

    Ping An Insurance posts 4% rise in net profit

    PING An Insurance (Group) Co. of China, the country’s second-largest insurer by market value, yesterday posted a 4 percent gain in first-quarter net profit underpinned by demand for all categories of insurance products.

    Ping An earned a net profit of 23.4 billion yuan (US$3.19 billion) in the first three months of the year compared with 22.44 billion yuan in the same quarter a year earlier, according to a stock exchange filing. Net profit attributable to shareholders reached 20.7 billion yuan for the first three months, compared with 19.96 billion yuan for the same period a year earlier. Ping An reported a 38 percent rise in full-year profit in March, though soured debt at Ping An Bank could cast a shadow over the current year.

    China Southern unit to buy 10 Boeing jets

    CHINA Southern Airlines said Tuesday its subsidiary Xiamen Airlines has signed a 5.5 billion yuan (US$847.08 million) order with Boeing Co. for buying 10 B737 jets.

    China Southern and other domestic carriers have been placing large aircraft orders as they build out their fleets to meet booming growth in travel by Chinese. In December, Xiamen Air had agreed to buy 30 Boeing jets.

    Guangxi firm misses payment on another bond

    GUANGXI Nonferrous Metals Group Co., the unlisted metals producer that defaulted on a bond in February, has missed a payment on a 500 million yuan (US$77 million) in private placement note that matured over the weekend.

    The note was a three-year issue with a 5.56 percent coupon rated BB, maturing Saturday. The metals producer cited in a notice issued Monday “consecutive losses and the fact that it has already entered bankruptcy reorganization procedures” as reasons for the missed payment.