Written by Joseph Chin
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 19:56
KUALA LUMPUR: RHB CAPITAL BHD [] saw its net profit slip 6.5% to RM334.81 in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2009 from RM358.34 million a year ago.
It said on Tuesday, Nov 18 that revenue declined 10.1% to RM1.343 billion from RM1.494 billion a year ago. Earnings per share were 15.5 sen compared with 16.6 sen.
RHB Cap said on a pre-tax level, 3Q pre-tax profit was RM446.2 million, or 12% higher from RM400.1 million in 2Q.
"The higher pre-tax profit was mainly attributable to lower loan loss allowances by RM91.6 million, partially offset by higher other operating expenses by RM43.7 million," it said.
For the nine-months ended Sept 30, net profit was marginally higher by 1.5% at RM864.98 million compared with RM851.84 million in the previous corresponding period. Revenue slipped 10.4% to RM4.034 billion from RM4.504 billion.
RHB Capital said the group's gross loans, advances and financing increased by RM3.8 billion or 6% in the nine-month period to reach RM67.0 billion as at Sept 30.
"This gives rise to an annualised loan growth of 8%, compared with the annualised industry loans growth of 6.9%. The group's domestic loan approvals grew by 10.3% in the first nine months of 2009 as compared to the previous corresponding period. Domestic loans market share stood at 8.3% as at end September 2009," it said.
The group's net NPL ratio remained stable at 2.37%, marginally lower as compared with that of June 2009 of 2.52%, while loan loss coverage stood at 86% as at Sept 30, 2009.
The group's improved performance was primarily contributed by higher net interest income, strong growth in income from Islamic banking business and higher write-back of impairment losses, partially offset by higher loan loss allowances and other operating expenses.
Net interest income increased by RM135.3 million or 8% to RM1,779.4 million for the first nine months of 2009. This was attributable to the healthy growth in loan base of RM3.8 billion from December 2008, coupled with lower interest expense as a result of the reduction in Overnight Policy Rate.
Income from the Islamic banking business was higher at RM241.0 million, up 20% as compared to RM200.4 million recorded in the same period in 2008.
The improved performance was attributable to higher net profit income of RM26.4 million on the back of higher loan base by RM282.5 million to RM5.8 billion, higher income from treasury assets and higher gain from sale of securities of RM10.1 million.
