BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest bank by market value, said Thursday that its profits rose 12.5 percent year on year in the first half of 2012.

Net profits for January-June hit 123.24 billion yuan (19.6 billion U.S. dollars), up from the 109.5 billion yuan it reported in the same period last year, the bank said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Earnings per share stood at 0.35 yuan at the end of June, up 0.04 yuan from one year earlier, according to the statement.

During the first six months, the bank's revenues totalled 262.8 billion yuan, an increase of 13.7 percent compared with the same period last year.

Its non-performing loans ratio dropped to 0.89 percent at the end of June, lower than the 0.94 percent it recorded at the end of last year.

The lender's core adequacy ratio stood at 10.38 percent at the end of June, up 0.31 percentage point from the end of last year.

The Beijing-based bank's total assets amounted to 17.07 trillion yuan at the end of June.

The bank's shares gained 0.26 percent to finish at 3.85 yuan on Thursday. Enditem

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