China Merchants Bank net profit up 38%

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING,April 10-- China Merchants Bank (CMB), the country's
fifth-largest bank by market value, said its net profit for 2008 grew 38.27
percent to 21.08 billion yuan ($3.78 billion).

But the bank's profit growth slowed in the fourth quarter amid a weakening
global economy. CMB's fourth quarter net profit fell to 2.09 billion yuan, down
63.65 percent from its 5.75 billion yuan net profit in the third quarter.

The bank's earnings per share rose to 1.43 yuan, up 37.5 percent from the
previous year's 1.04 yuan, according to a preliminary earnings report released
Thursday. CMB also postponed the release of its 2008 earnings report to April
24, from a scheduled release date of April 16.

The bank said the figures were unaudited.

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)