ASTANA. July 27. KAZINFORM AO Temirbank (TEBN), the lender controlled by Kazakhstan's Samruk-Kazyna wealth fund, more than doubled profit in the first half from a year earlier.

Net income increased to 1.25 billion tenge ($8.3 million) in the six months through June from 493 million tenge in the same period a year earlier, the Almaty-based lender said in an e-mailed statement today, citing calculations based on unaudited results under international financial reporting standards, Kazinform has learnt from Bloomberg.

Temirbank said its capital grew by 2.2 percent to 58.3 billion tenge in the first half compared with the beginning of the year. Loan holdings advanced 7.6 percent in the year through June 30 to 190.3 billion tenge, the bank said.

Temirbank said yesterday that it's seeking to sell 7.78 billion tenge of bad unsecured loans and is accepting bids until Aug. 3.