Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores SA saw a slight uptick in its net income for the fourth quarter of 2017 despite a 52.8% increase in impairments.
The group posted net income attributable to owners of the parent company of 466.7 billion Colombian pesos, 1.8% higher than the 458.4 billion pesos in the same period in 2016. EPS grew year over year to 20.9 pesos from 20.6 pesos.
Net interest income was at 2.662 trillion pesos in the period, up 15.0% from the 2.315 trillion pesos a year ago.
Net fee and commission income ticked 5.0% higher on a yearly basis to 1.166 trillion pesos from 1.111 trillion pesos. Net trading income slid 24.8% year over year to 178.8 billion pesos, while net income from financial instruments grew 23.7% to 62.4 billion pesos.
The group's net interest margin rose to 5.9% in the quarter from 5.5% in the year-ago period. Excluding net trading income, net interest margin was 5.8% in the quarter, compared to 5.4% a year earlier.
Net impairment losses soared to 1.200 trillion pesos from 785.5 billion pesos, partly due to loans to power provider Electricaribe, the Concesionaria Ruta del Sol infrastructure project and to SITP. However, during the third quarter of 2017, Grupo Aval expected that "the impact of the Electricaribe loan provisions is expected to be materially done by early 2018."
Total gross loans and receivables increased by 4.9% in the 12 months through December 2017, driven mainly by a 10.0% increase in mortgage loans, a 7.4% increase in consumer loans and a 2.9% increase in commercial loans.
Loans more than 90 days past due represented 2.8% of the company's total portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter quarter, compared to 2.0% a year earlier.
Return on average assets fell to 1.3% in the period from 1.5% a year ago, while return on average equity went down to 11.6% from 11.9%.
For full year 2017, the bank's attributable net income decreased to 1.962 trillion pesos from 2.140 trillion pesos in 2016.
As of March 15, US$1 was equivalent to 2,846.30 Colombian pesos.
