Update BIMB 3Q profit surges 66% to RM125.3 mil, declares 14.7 sen dividend

by **Cals** Wed 26 Nov 2014, 02:44

Update
BIMB 3Q profit surges 66% to RM125.3 mil, declares 14.7 sen dividend

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 25): BIMB Holdings Bhd's (BIMB) net profit surged 66% to RM125.3 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2014 (3QFY14), from RM75.5 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

Quarterly revenue rose 7% to RM744.49 million from RM696.03 million a year earlier.
The group also declared an interim single-tier dividend of 14.7 sen per share.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia today, the Islamic banking and financial group said for the nine-month period (9MFY14), net profit soared 72.7% to RM378.42 million from RM219.18 million a year ago, while revenue rose 6% to RM2.21 billion from RM2.08 billion previously.

BIMB recorded a marginally lower consolidated profit before zakat and taxation (PBZT) for 9MFY14 of RM595.5 million, down 0.5% from 9MFY13, which it attributed mainly to the financing cost of sukuk.

The sukuk was raised to partly fund the acquisition of a 49% equity interest in Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Financial Dashboard) in December last year.

According to BIMB, its Bank Islam Group's 9MFY14 PBZT grew 6.4% to RM506.3 million for the nine-month period, which was mainly attributed to growth in business activities.

Its net financing assets grew RM4.8 billion or 21.4% to reach RM27.4 billion as at end-September this year.

Correspondingly, fund based income from financing also increased by RM159.8 million or 16.0%, it said.

Non-fund based income rose 8.7% or RM17.5 million, mainly from foreign exchange transactions and net gain from the sale of financial assets available-for-sale.

BIMB said Bank Islam's customer deposits rose 7.6% or RM2.7 billion to RM38.1 billion. The bank's gross impaired financing ratio remained at 1.18%, compared to the position as at end-December last year.

On Takaful Malaysia Group, BIMB said its 9MFY14 PBZT increased 13.5% to RM142.5 million from RM125.6 million in 9MFY13, due to lower management expenses, commissions and expense reserves.

Operating revenue for the period decreased to RM1.25 billion from RM1.33 billion, mainly due to lower sales generated by Family Takaful business.

"Going forward, the economic outlook is somewhat mixed," said BIMB, as it noted the International Monetary Fund's downgraded forecast for global economy.

BIMB said Bank Islam will continue to optimise returns by balancing product mix, optimising assets and liabilities mix, maintaining business growth and increasing fee based income.

As at midday break, BIMB has shed 1 sen or 0.2% to RM4.24 with 949,400 shares done, giving it a market capitalisation of RM6.35 billion.