Bank Rakyat says Q1 net profit jumps to 52 percent

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BBRI.JK), Indonesia's second biggest lender by assets, said first quarter net profit rose 52 percent, driven by strong loan growth in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

The firm's first quarter net profit was 3.26 trillion Indonesian rupiah ($377.86 million), compared with 2.15 trillion rupiah in the same period a year earlier, the bank said in a statement.

Analysts had forecast BRI's 2011 net profit would rise 13 percent to 12.91 trillion rupiah, according to Thomson Reuters' Starmine SmartEstimate.
BRI, the world's largest micro-lender, said the government asked it to pay a 20 percent dividend payout ratio from 2010 profits, or higher than the 5 percent it originally expected.

It reported first quarter 2011 net interest income rose 22 percent to 8.17 trillion rupiah from only 6.70 trillion rupiah in the year-ago period.
Its shares gained 9.5 percent in the first quarter, outperforming a 6.4 percent gain in top state lender Bank Mandiri (BMRI.JK) and the broader Jakarta index's .JKSE 0.7 percent fall. ($1 = 8627.500 Indonesian Rupiahs). Source: Reuters