UBS released a research report saying that it gave China Merchants Bank (03968) a "neutral" rating and believed that the market would have a negative reaction to China Merchants Bank's performance, with a target price of 25carcrashsimulatorpc.6 Hong Kong dollars.
The report said that the company's net profit for the first quarter fell 2% year-on-year to 38.1 billion yuan, which was worse than the bank's expectations; revenue and profit before provision were basically in line with forecasts. As the net interest margin fell by 27 basis points, net interest income fell by 6.2% year-on-year. However, the narrowing of the net interest margin slowed down, falling by 2 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 2.02%. Fee income fell 19.4% year-on-year, worse than expected.
The bank expects China Merchants Bank's credit cost in the first quarter of this year to be 86 basis points, down 20 basis points year-on-year. The bank mentioned that China Merchants Bank's fee income was weak, with wealth management business-related fees falling 44% year-on-year, asset management fees falling 6%, bank card fee income falling 16%, and settlement and clearing fees rising 5%.
