Indonesia: Bank Negara Indonesia, the fourth major bank by investment

Bank Negara Indonesia, the fourth major bank by investment , posted a additional-than-20 % increase in profit last year, supported by strong increase in infrastructure loans. Net gain at the lender rose 21 % to Rp 7.1 trillion ($734 million), the company said in a statement on Friday.

Net interest gain, which is gain from loans next deducting charges to service depositors, rose 17 % to Rp 15.5 trillion, supported by high increase in lending.

Fee-based gain rose 11 % to Rp 8.4 trillion, coming from provision and commission charges. Outstanding loans at the lender rose 23 % to Rp 201 trillion last year. In a Thursday statement, Gatot M. Suwondo, president director of BNI, said 74 % of the lending went to so-called productive sectors and small and medium enterprises.

BNI disbursed infrastructure loans in the transportation, construction, electricity and oil and gas sectors. Investment loans rose 31 % to Rp 27.3 trillion last year while loans for working capital rose 22 % to Rp 44.9 trillion. “Strengthening in investment and capital loans has become our focus in assisting the government boosting national investment increase,” Gatot said.

In the consumer sector, BNI performed strongly in home loans, focused on prime-time buyers.

Mortgage loans grew 40 % last year, increasing the company’s share of the mortgage market to 11.3 % in 2012, from 9.9 % in 2011.

BNI rivals such as Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Tabungan Negara have reported an increase in their profits last year, with strong loan request part Indonesian consumers and corporations. Bank Mandiri, the country’s major lender by assets, reported an increase of almost 30 % in net gain to Rp 15.5 trillion last year, while net interest gain leapt 26 % to Rp 27.5 trillion.

Profit at BTN rose 32 % to Rp 1.36 trillion last year, the company said in a brief prospectus published in Investor Daily on Thursday.

Analysts said that BNI’s strong lending increase helped boost its profit. “Next three years of booking less than 20 % loan increase, the bank broke the trend and posted 23 % loan increase in 2012,” Robby Hafil, an analyst with Trimegah Securities, wrote in a note on BNI’s released on Friday.  The bank’s net gain came slightly above consensus estimates.

Looking forward, Robby wrote, BNI’s management had hinted it was aiming to grow its lending by 23 % to 25 % this year, higher than the industry-wide target.

Most of the increase will come in consumer and retail areas, which is targeted to grow by around 28 %, he added. “With flattish cost of credit and operating expense increase, we estimate the bank’s 2013 net gain to reach Rp 8.5 trillion,” Roby wrote.

BNI’s stock gained 5.4 % to Rp 4,850 on Friday. The shares have risen 29 % so far this year, surpassing the 16 % gain of major stock index. Robby reiterated his “buy” approbation for the stock with target price of Rp 5,700. He said the stock will continue its bullish trend in the near term boosted by investor confidence.