China Merchants Bank First-Half Profits Rise 40 pct

BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- China Merchants Bank, the country's fifth largest bank by market value, said on Tuesday that its first-half profits increased 40.12 percent year-on-year to 18.5 billion yuan (2.87 billion U.S. dollars).

The company's operating income rose 39.67 percent from one year earlier to 46 billion yuan, the bank said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The value of the lender's total assets increased 10.01 percent to 2.64 trillion yuan.

Its non-performing loan ratio dropped 0.07 percentage point to 0.61 percent at the end of June, the statement said.

The bank did not elaborate on the reasons behind its profit growth.

Shares of the lender climbed 0.08 percent to close at 11.51 yuan on Tuesday.