Written by Surin Murugiah
Thursday, 15 April 2010 12:52
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KUALA LUMPUR: PUBLIC BANK BHD [] net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010 grew 16.3% to RM685.25 million from RM589.28 million a year ago mainly due to strong growth in net interest and financing income, higher non-interest income and lower loan impairment allowances.
It said on Thursday, April 15 that revenue rose to RM2.51 billion from RM2.43 billion in 2009. Earnings per share was 19.70 sen from 17.44 sen previously.
The bank said net interest and financing income rose by RM159.7 million (14.5%), and other operating income by RM92.7 million (31.5%) which was mainly due to higher management fee income from the fund management business, higher fee income from sale of trust units, higher brokerage and commission from stockbroking activities and higher income from the foreign exchange business.
In addition, loan impairment allowance also decreased by RM16.6 million (10.6%), it said.
These were partially offset by higher other operating expenses by RM93.0 million which was mainly due to the increase in personnel costs resulting from the expansion of marketing sales force and higher business volume, it said.
The bank said the growth in the group's net interest and financing income was driven by continued strong loans and deposits growth coupled with sustained strong asset quality.
Gross loans had grown by 13.6% year-on-year to RM142.4 billion as at March 31, 2010 as compared to RM125.4 billion as at March 31, 2009 mainly arising from financing of small- and medium sized enterprises, residential mortgages and financing of passenger vehicles, it said.
Total deposits from customers had also grown by 12.4% or RM19.3 billion as compared to March 31, 2009 which partly contributed to the higher net interest income for the current financial quarter, it said.
Public Bank said its impaired loan ratio had further improved to 0.94% from 0.98% a year ago.
Its domestic commercial bank, Public Bank, recorded a pre-tax profit of RM833.1 million for the current financial quarter and was 90.7% higher than the pre-tax profit of RM437 million achieved in the previous corresponding quarter.
This was mainly due to higher net interest income, lower loan impairment allowance, higher dividend income from subsidiaries and higher foreign exchange gain in respect of the hedging of the group's overseas operations, partially offset by higher other operating expenses, it said.
