(LEAD) Woori Finance Q2 net dips less-than-expected 46 pct

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; ADDS details in para 4-6, 8-11)
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- Woori Finance Holdings Co., South Korea's top
financial services company, said Monday its second-quarter earnings fell a
smaller-than-expected 46 percent from a year earlier thanks to one-off gains from
stake sales and smaller loan-loss provisions.

Net profit came to 223.1 billion won (US$182.3 million) in the April-June period,
compared with 415.5 billion won the previous year, Woori Finance said in a
regulatory filing. Compared with three months earlier, net income grew 38
percent.
Revenue inched down 5 percent on-year to 10.6 trillion won and operating profit
fell 40 percent to 398.9 billion won, it added.
"Compared with the previous quarter, the loan-loss reserves declined and
commission income rose," an official at the group said. It put aside 430.8
billion won to cover risky loans in the three months, 41.8 percent less than the
first quarter.
Shares of Woori Finance Holdings closed at 14,550 won on the Seoul bourse, down
1.02 percent from Friday's close.
As of the end of June, the group's total assets 330.4 trillion won, down 7.5
percent from end-March.
Woori Bank, the group's flagship unit, booked a one-off profit of 180.8 billion
won by selling its stake in Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. in May.
Woori Bank, the group's flagship and South Korea's No. 2 lender, logged a net
profit of 171.3 billion won in the second quarter, down 51 percent from a year
earlier. From the previous quarter, the bottom line inched up 2 percent.
Revenue edged up 1 percent on-year to 8.98 trillion won in the cited period, with
operating profit plunging 54 percent to 200.1 billion won, the group said.
The lender's capital adequacy ratio, or the percentage of equity capital to
risk-weighted assets, stood at 13.7 percent as of the end of June, up from 12.8
percent three months earlier.
The bank's interest margin was 1.65 percent in the second quarter, down 0.26
percentage point from the previous quarter, with its non-performing loans, or
lending overdue more than three months, rising to 1.9 percent from 1.7 percent.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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