Bira's profit up 67%

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Bank Bira reported yesterday a 51 percent increase in its net profit for the first half of this year to Rp 40.8 billion (US$15.7 million) over the same period of last year.

The bank said net interest income rose by 67 percent to Rp 87.4 billion from Rp 52.3 billion. Fees and commission from nonrelated loans were up 23 percent to Rp 19.9 billion from 16.1 billion.

Based on annual basis, this year's first half results exceeded the bank's full year projection by 9 percent.

The average return on assets and equity as of the first half of this year were still high at 3.06 percent and 22.6 percent respectively. (rid)