DBS released its 1Q14 results this morning. PATMI for the quarter came in at S$1,231m, up 30% YoY mostly due to a one-time S$223m gain from a stake sale of the Bank of Philippine Islands. Excluding one-time items, 1Q14 net profit of S$1,033m is up 9% YoY and constitutes 27.3% of our full year forecast; we judge this set of results to be above consensus (Bloomberg: 877m) and our expectations, with the main variance versus our forecast coming from a set of firmer than anticipated Non-Interest Income.

1Q14 Net Interest Income increased 12% YoY to S$1,488m, while Non-Interest Income over 1Q14 declined 3% YoY to S$963m. The decline in Non-Interest Income was mostly caused by lower contributions from stockbroking (-31% YoY), investment banking (-33% YoY) and net trading income (-11% YoY). Customer loans grew 2% QoQ to S$253.3b as at end 1Q14 and NIM increased to 1.66% versus 1.61% in 4Q13. The cost-to-income ratio eased from 47.9% in 4Q13 to 42.5% in 1Q14. Maintain BUY on DBS with an unchanged fair value of S$18.08.

Source: OCBC Research - 30 Apr 2014