(1155) Maybank H1 earnings surge to record high

MALAYAN Banking Bhd (Maybank), Malaysia's largest lender by assets, saw its second quarter net profit increase by 24.54 per cent driven by its lending and wealth management business.


The bank posted RM1.44 billion net profit for the three months ended June 30 2012 compared with RM1.15 billion in the corresponding period last year.

For the six months ended June 30 2012, Maybank's net profit was up 21.2 per cent to RM2.78 billion, while revenue improved by 24.7 per cent to RM13.5 billion.

Growth was strong across almost all business sectors supported by a more than 100 per cent growth in revenue for investment banking, and income growth of over 50 per cent for Islamic banking.

Group loans, which rose by 15 per cent, further contributed to the overall performance of the banking group.

"Overall, we expect Maybank to continue to perform well in the second half of 2012," its president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said after a media briefing yesterday.

He expects Maybank to continue to expand its loan growth in view of anticipated growth in "solid" Asean markets that it operates, namely in Singapore and Thailand.

Wahid said Maybank wants to continue building its diversified portfolio of services and resources regionally so that it can remain resilient in the long term.

"We should be able to continue to see growth in our loan book and income as well," he said, adding that extra growth opportunities would come from capital market activities.

The group has set two key performance indicators (KPIs) for the current financial year ending December 31 2012 with return on equity (RoE) of 15.6 per cent, and growth in loans and debt securities of 15.2 per cent.

In the first half of this year, RoE was above target at 16.1 per cent, while debt securities growth was at 13.8 per cent.

"Given the momentum that we have achieved, we are optimistic that the group will continue its satisfactory performance and meet its targets for the year," Wahid said.

For the second quarter, Maybank's earnings per share climbed to 18.64 sen from 15.54 sen a year ago.

The group's revenue for the period had also risen 20.18 per cent to RM6.88 billion compared with RM5.72 billion a year ago.

Revenue was boosted by a 22.3 per cent growth in fee-based income and 15.2 per cent rise in fund-based income.

Maybank also declared an interim dividend of 32 sen per share less tax with a total gross dividend amount of RM2.51 million for the financial year ending December 2012.

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