UPDATE 2-Peru Credicorp's 1st-qtr profit soars 125 pct
(Adds loan provisions, Visa gain)
LIMA, May 7 (Reuters) - Peru's Credicorp (BAP.LM: Quote, Profile, Research)(BAP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday its first-quarter net income rose 125 percent to $178 million from the same period a year earlier, lifted by booming economic growth in the Andean country.
Credicorp has a 97.3 percent stake in Banco de Credito, Peru's largest bank, which also operates in Bolivia.
The company said earnings were lifted by $68.7 million in currency effects, as Peru's sol PEN=PE rallied 8 percent during the quarter. It also enjoyed a gain of $13 million from the initial public offering of Visa (V.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
The company's loan portfolio increased 43 percent to $8.9 billion in the quarter compared with the same period a year earlier as the economy grew about 9 percent on an annual basis and purchases of houses and cars surged.
The ratio of delinquent loans fell to about 0.8 percent of the total from 1.2 percent in the same quarter a year earlier.
Still, the company said it had increased net provisions by $16.1 million to take a more conservative policy for its retail loan portfolio.
Shares of Credicorp rose 1.28 percent on Wednesday to close at $83.19 in New York before the earnings release. (Reporting by Teresa Cespedes; Writing by Terry Wade; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Ted Kerr)
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