China's Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB) said late Sunday its unaudited net profit in the first half of 2008 may rise between 85 and 95 percent from a year earlier.

The net profit was forecast to jump to between 2.079 and 2.192 billion yuan (302 to $318 million) in the six months ending on June 30, the Chinese partner of Newbridge Capital said.

Net profit in the first half of last year was 1.124 billion yuan, or 0.54 yuan per share.

The rapid growth was driven by the expansion of loans and intermediate services, wider interest margin, declines in non-performing loans (NPL) and corporate income tax rates.

Its bad loans dropped by 500 million yuan from a quarter ago, driving the NPL ratio down 0.5 percentage points.

In the first quarter of 2008, the SDB saw net profit soar 88 percent to 1.004 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2008)