DBS FIRST-HALF EARNINGS UP 23% TO RECORD SGD 1.54 BILLION

Createwealth8888: Half-yearly dividend for H1 2011 remains at $0.28 that translated to 3.6% yield for half year or 7.2% for full year for me. It is just a decent yield for keeping a too-big-to-fail bank for Singapore Govt in the portfolio.



SINGAPORE, July 28 (Reuters) - Singapore's DBS on Thursday posted a quarterly profit that was slightly above analysts forecasts, helped by strong loan growth as it rebounded from a loss a year ago when it took a goodwill charge.

DBS, Southeast Asia's biggest lender, made a net profit of S$735 million ($611 million) for April-June against a net loss of S$300 million a year earlier due to a goodwill charge on its Hong Kong business.

This was DBS's second-best profit number ever after it posted a record S$807 million net in the first quarter.

That compared with an average forecast of S$728 million, according to eight analysts surveyed by Reuters.

Excluding the goodwill charge, DBS's year-ago net profit was S$718 million.

The result marks the fourth straight quarter when DBS has posted better-than-expected earnings as CEO Piyush Gupta spearheads a recovery in the existing business and avoids expensive acquisitions. ($1 = 1.204 Singapore Dollars) (Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Kevin Lim)