RHB Capital Q1 earnings down 4.8% to RM435.55

KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Capital Bhd reported a 4.8% decline in earnings to RM435.55mil in the first quarter ended March 31, 2012 from RM457.75mil a year ago.
It
reported on Monday that its revenue however increased by 14.2% to
RM1.902bil from RM1.665bil. Earnings per share were 19.8 sen compared
with 21.3 sen.
"Pre-tax profit and net profit for the
corresponding quarter ended March 31, 2011 have been restated to
RM610.6mil and RM457.8mil respectively, excluding the effect of the
restatement, pre-tax profit of the group for the first quarter 2012 was
higher by 13.5%," it said.
RHB Capital said that pre-provisioning profit for Q1, 2012 was at RM630.4mil, up 4.2% on-year.
"The
higher pre-provisioning profit was mainly attributable to higher net
operating income by 9.1%, partly offset by higher other operating
expenses by 15.8%," it said.
It also said net interest income increased by RM10.6mil or 1.5% on the back of a 9.2% increase in gross loans year on year.
The
banking group said as for interest income, it increased by 11.5%, but
partly negated by higher interest expense by 23.0% while net interest
margin stabilised to 2.41% for the current quarter.