Bank of Yokohama net profit down 14.8% in FY 2002.

TOKYO, May 26 Kyodo

The Bank of Yokohama said Monday its group net profit for the year ended March 31 fell 14.8% to 16.90 billion yen due mainly to bad-loan disposals and appraisal losses on shareholdings resulting from lower stock prices.

The largest Japanese regional bank said it booked 51.12 billion yen in loan-loss charges on a consolidated basis, down from 55.73 billion yen the previous year.

It also took charges against appraisal losses of 33.22 billion yen on its securities holdings, mainly stocks.

The bank said it chalked up a group pretax profit of 27.16 billion yen for the just-ended year, down 19.2%.

Operating profit from the core banking business, a key gauge of profitability before taxes and loan-loss charges, stood at 104.86 billion yen on a parent-only basis, down from 108.16 billion yen.

Net profit per share was 13.64 yen, down from 16.24 yen.

As of the end of March, the Bank of Yokohama was still saddled with 403.59 billion yen in bad loans calculated under government rules, down from 476.74 billion yen.

Its capital-adequacy ratio declined to a preliminary 10.32% on a consolidated basis from 10.72% at the end of March 2002.

The bank said it will pay a full-year dividend of 5 yen per common share, with no interim dividend paid. For fiscal 2001, it paid the same full-year dividend.

For the current business year, the Bank of Yokohama forecasts a group net profit of 31.5 billion yen and a group pretax profit of 56 billion yen on operating revenue of 236 billion yen.

It also plans to book 45 billion yen in loan-loss charges for the current year.