ACB Q1 assets up 17 percent at $6.3 billion

A customer makes a transaction at a HCMC’s ACB branch
Vietnam’s fifth-largest lender, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), said asset growth accelerated in the first quarter, rising 17 percent from end of 2007 to VND100 trillion (US$6.3 billion).
The Ho Chi Minh City-based bank nearly doubled its assets from a year ago to VND50.33 trillion ($3.1 billion).
ACB reported unaudited gross profit of VND501 billion ($31 million) in the first three months of this year, or 20 percent of its earnings forecast for the whole of 2008, it said in a statement on the bank’s website (www.acb.com.vn).
The statement gave no annual percentage change for first quarter profit but last year ACB reported pretax profit of VND413 billion for the first quarter of 2007.
Shares in ACB closed down2.9 percent at VND93,700 ($5.81) Friday, valuing the bank at $1.54 billion, the largest among 132 companies listed on the Hanoi stock exchange.
Standard Chartered owns 8.56 percent of ACB, the largest stake of four foreign shareholders which together hold a combined 30 percent.
ACB, the sole listed bank on the Hanoi market, has projected its total assets will increase 69.8 percent to VND145 trillion ($8.99 billion) and loans will grow 85 percent to VND59 trillion ($ 3.66 billion) this year.
Earlier this week the bank published its audited results for 2007, showing net profit more than tripling to VND1.76 trillion ($110 million) as loans jumped 87 percent to VND31.81 trillion ($1.97 billion)