The growth rate of earnings remained stable in the first quarter. The company achieved revenue of 160.818 billion yuan (YoY, -3.01%) and net profit of 55.989 billion yuan (YoY, -2.90%) in the first quarter of 2024. The company's weighted average ROE for the first quarter was 9.86%, down 1.28 percentage points year over year.
Asset growth has remained steady. Total assets increased 10.77% year-on-year to 33.66 trillion yuan at the end of the first quarter of 2024, and the growth rate is still at a high level. Among them, loans increased 12.38% year over year to 20.88 trillion yuan, and deposits increased 9.98% year over year to 24.11 trillion yuan. The company's core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio at the end of the first quarter was 12.02%, the Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was 14.00%, and the capital adequacy ratio was 18.52%, all of which met regulatory requirements. Among them, the core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio increased 0.39 percentage points from the beginning of the year.
Net interest spreads continued the downward trend, and net interest income grew steadily. Net interest spread for the first quarter was 1.44%, down 26 bps year over year. On a month-on-month basis, net interest spreads for the first quarter of this year fell by 15 bps compared to the fourth quarter of last year, continuing the downward trend. Net interest income for the first quarter was 112.712 billion yuan, down 3.94% year on year, and growth was relatively steady.
Net non-interest income remained stable, and other non-interest income increased year-on-year. Net non-interest revenue of $48.106 billion was achieved in the first quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 4.58%. Among them, net revenue from handling fees was 25.127 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 18.99%; other non-interest-bearing net income of 22.979 billion yuan was realized, an increase of 3.76% over the previous year.
Asset quality remained stable, and risk indicators improved month-on-month. The company's non-performing loan ratio at the end of the first quarter was 1.24%, down 0.03 percentage points from the beginning of the year; the provision coverage rate was 199.94%, up 8.28 percentage points from the beginning of the year. Overall, the quality of the company's assets has remained stable, and risk indicators have improved month-on-month.
Investment advice: The company's overall fundamental performance is relatively stable. We keep the company's profit forecast unchanged. The company's net profit for 2024-2026 is 2368/2428/25.7 billion yuan, corresponding to a year-on-year growth rate of 2.1%/2.6%/3.2%; diluted EPS is 0.76/0.78/0.81 yuan; PE corresponding to the current stock price is 5.2/5.1/4.9x, and PB is 0.49/0.46/0.43x, maintaining the “buy” rating.
Risk warning: The weakening macroeconomic situation may adversely affect the quality of bank assets.