May 2008 Financial News

RBL Releases Half Year Results

May 08, 2008

Republic Bank Limited
Results for the Half Year Ended March 31, 2008

Earnings Per Share
For the Half Year Ended March 31, 2008, Republic Bank Limited (RBL) reported a diluted Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $3.92, down 22.8 per cent on the comparable period in fiscal 2007. However, the Bank’s Profit Attributable to Shareholders for HY08 of $629.7 million reflected an after tax gain of $82 million from the allocation of shares in Visa Inc. while the Profit Attributable to Shareholders for HY07 of $813.9 million included a $370 million gain from the sale of the Bank’s shareholding in FirstCaribbean International Bank. If we exclude the two exceptional items, core earnings for HY08 and HY07 amounted to $547.6 million and $443.8 million respectively. Thus, RBL’s Core EPS would be up 23.5 per cent from approximately $2.77 (HY07) to $3.42 (HY08).

Financial Highlights
• Net Interest Income, up 16.7 per cent or $133.7 million to $932.4 million
• Other Income, up 7.0 per cent or $32.6 million to $497.6 million
• Operating Expenses, up 6.2 per cent or $40.0 million to $681.4 million
• Operating Profit, up 20.3 per cent or $126.4 million to $748.6 million
• Profit Before Taxation, down 12.7 per cent or $128.2 million to $879.6 million
• Loss on discontinued operations was $2.6 million for HY08 compared to $16.1 million for HY07
• Profit After Taxation, down 20.5 per cent from $859.0 million (HY07) to $683.4 million (HY08)

Dividends
The Board of Directors approved a Half Year dividend of $1.15 per share which will be paid to shareholders on May 29, 2008.

Recommendation
RBL last closed at a price of $100.00 on the local exchange. At the current price and forecasted EPS of $7.25 for fiscal 2008, RBL is trading at a multiple of 13.8 times. At this time, we recommend a HOLD on this share.


Nancy Chen
WISE Equity Research Team