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Saturday February 28, 2009

Maybank net profit for Q2 flattish

By YVONNE TAN


MALAYAN Banking Bhd’s (Maybank) net profit for the second quarter to Dec 31 was flattish at RM734.6mil against RM731mil from a year earlier following higher loan loss provisions and overhead expenses.

Revenue came in at RM4.7bil compared with RM4bil previously while earnings per share stood at 15.05 sen against 15.01 sen a year earlier.

“We envisage a tougher operating environment in the coming months. We have re-prioritised some of our medium-term initiatives in view of the changes in the financial and economic landscape,” president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said at a briefing on its results in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Maybank made loan-loss provisions of up to RM312.2mil for the quarter under review compared with RM177.6mil in the previous corresponding period.

Wahid says loans are expected to grow by 6% to 7% for the fiscal year ending June 2009, after an increase of 7% in the first half of the year.

For the six months to Dec 31, the country’s biggest lender posted a net profit of RM1.3bil against RM1.5bil before, impacted by a lower contribution from the international banking, investment banking and insurance operations.

Annualised net return on equity stood at 13.2%.

Net income grew 6.5% to RM4.68bil while net interest income increased by 3.2% to RM2.81bil, backed mainly by growth in loans, advances, financing as well as improved lending margins contributed by the recent acquisition of PT Bank Indonesia Internasional (BII).

Non-interest income, meanwhile, recorded a growth of 3.4%.

Revenue was recorded in almost all business segments, increasing to RM8.46bil, up 6.8% against the previous corresponding period. Its banking group’s Islamic banking expanded by 38%.

“Our asset quality remained strong,” Wahid says. Maybank’s net non-performing loan (NPL) ratio improved to 1.8% as at December 2008, compared with 2.69% in December 2007 and 1.92% in June 2008.

The bank’s risk-weighted capital ratio, which measures capital against risk-weighted assets, stood at 10.19% as at December 2008. “We plan to increase this to between 11% and 12% this year,” Wahid says.

He says Maybank may make impairment charges at BII and Pakistan’s MCB Bank Ltd when it reports its full-year results.

“We expect to remain profitable in this current financial year and the following year,” he adds.

AmResearch deputy head of research Fiona Leong says domestically, the bank appears to be “doing well” in line with its peers.

“However, its overseas operations remain a concern,” she tells StarBizWeek.

Based on Bloomberg concensus, Maybank is expected to make RM2.6bil in net profit for its fiscal year ending June 30.

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