Security Bank Corporation (PSE: SECB) held its annual stockholders’ meeting last Tuesday, May 26, 2009. During the meeting, President and Chief Executive Officer Alberto S. Villarosa announced its financial results for 2008 as the bank recorded an impressive Return on Equity of 19.2%. This result was on the back of a deceleration in net income which stood at PhP 2.3B in 2008 down from the PhP 2.7B recorded a year earlier.
While last year’s non-interest income was affected by the reductions in securities trading gains, the Bank registered a positive 8.84% growth in its net interest income to close the year at PhP5.0B. The healthy growth in the bank’s net interest margins was achieved primarily through the 29.5% or PhP15.4B growth in its net loans which stood at PhP 67.4 billion by year-end 2008.
Mr. Villarosa, President and Chief Executive Officer, cited the proper execution of the Bank’s corporate strategy that resulted in the noteworthy performance despite the unprecedented challenges brought on by the global financial turmoil. He underscored their focus on steadily growing the loan portfolio and deepening relationships cultivated with established clients over the years. The shift in both the balance sheet profile and the earnings composition is aimed at growth in the core earnings so as to mitigate the negative impact brought about by the economic and financial turmoil that began in the US and in Europe.
In Mr. Villarosa’s management report, he emphasized the bank’s commitment to improve asset quality as manifested in the decline of the Non-performing loans (NPL) ratio to 1.3% from the previous year’s 2.6% along with improvement in the NPL cover to 283%, an increase from 181%. Excellent asset quality of the balance sheet that sustained organic growth over the last few years significantly strengthened the bank’s capital base with a year-end 2008 Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 18.5%.
As of the end of the first quarter in 2009, Security Bank reported an annualized ROE of 22.9% for the period, higher than the 19.2% ROE registered at year-end 2008.
Successful results enabled SECB to maintain strong dividend payments. The board approved a regular cash dividend of PhP0.25 per share and a special cash dividend of PhP 0.50 per share for the first semester of 2009 with June 8, 2009 as record date and July 3, 2009 as payment date. Security Bank’s efforts at addressing shareholder value have not escaped international attention as the bank was cited as one of the companies that exhibited solid commitment to strong dividend payments.
During the stockholders’ meeting and the ensuing organizational board meeting, the following were re-elected to the Board of Directors: Frederick Y. Dy as Chairman, Paul Y. Ung as Vice Chairman, and Philip T. Ang, Anastasia Y. Dy, Jose R. Facundo, James JK Hung, Jose Perpetuo M. Lotilla, Fe T. Palileo, Eduardo I. Plana, Rafael F. Simpao, Jr. and Alberto S. Villarosa.
Queried further on the prospects for the remainder of the year, Mr. Villarosa stated: “Despite the continuing uncertainty in the global financial markets and expectations of a deceleration in growth of the Philippine economy, we remain guardedly optimistic. Based on our performance for the first quarter of 2009, we are on track with our budgets for the period and are confident of attaining our targets for the remainder of the year.”
|
