RHB Cap Q3 earnings fall 2.5% to RM545m

PETALING JAYA: RHB Capital Bhd's third quarter (Q3) net profit dipped 2.5% to RM544.61 million from RM559.15 million in the same quarter last year.
The bank said its per-tax profit fell 3.3% mainly due to lower impairment write back on other assets, higher impairment allowances for loans and financing and higher other operating expenses.
"This was however partially offset by higher other operating income, higher income from Islamic Banking business and higher net interest income," it told Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
Revenue in the Q3 ended Sept 30 2014 increased to RM2.7 billion from RM2.46 billion. Earnings per share stood at 21.20 sen against 22.20 sen the year earlier.
"Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group expects its 2014 performance to be better than 2013," RHB Banking group managing director Kellee Kam said in a statement yesterday.
For the nine months period, RHB Capital's net profit rose to RM1.55 billion from RM1.33 billion a year earlier, while revenue was higher at RM7.58 billion compared to RM7.06 billion.
The banking group's net interest income rose 3.2% to RM2.5 billion underpinned by a 9.5% increase in conventional gross loans.
Other operating income increased by 3.2% year-on-year to RM1.5 billion, primarily due to higher fee income and insurance underwriting surplus.
"This was however, partially offset by lower gain on derivatives and lower net gains from trading and investment securities.
As at Sept 30, RHB Capital reported loan growth of 11.7% to RM136 billion from a year earlier while customer deposits rose 7.5% to RM148.1 billion.
Impaired loans ratio improved to 2.29% from 2.81% in December 2013 whereas its domestic loans market share increased to 9.6% from 9.3% last year.
Total assets increased by 9.7% or RM18.5 billion to RM209.6 billion whilst shareholders equity strengthened further with a 9.4% growth to RM18.3 billion.
Net assets per share improved to RM7.12 compared to RM6.57 as at Dec 31, 2013.
On prospects, RHB Capital said the Malaysian banking sector will continue its growth trend for the rest of the year, supported by broadly resilient private investments and the various economic programmes.