EVENING 5: Maybank’s 3Q net profit rises 12%

The Edge TV

In today’s edition of Evening 5 — Maybank’s 3Q profit rises 12%,  AMMB Holdings records its best quarter since 4QFY2015, and support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wanes to 50%.

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:04 Maybank booked a 12% increase in its latest quarterly profit on the back of higher operating

00:10 income and lower allowance for impairment losses on loans. The country's largest lender by assets

00:16 said third quarter FY2023 earnings rose to 2.36 billion ringgit, while revenue grew 23%

00:24 to 16.01 billion ringgit. No dividend was declared for the quarter under review. At the end of

00:30 September, the bank's total assets hit the 1 trillion ringgit mark for the first time,

00:35 compared to 945 billion ringgit as of end December 2022. Group President and CEO Dato'

00:42 Khairul Salih Romley said the group will continue to pursue opportunities for growth, guided by its

00:48 corporate strategy across all of its customer and business segments within its ASEAN operations,

00:53 while maintaining its strong liquidity position, improving asset quality and preserving sound

00:59 capital levels. He said Maybank aims to continue bringing about a positive impact to the communities

01:05 it serves, in line with its purpose of humanising financial services. Barring any unforeseen

01:11 circumstances, the lender is targeting a return on equity between 10.5% and 11% for FY2023.

01:19 AMNB Holdings saw its second quarter FY2024 net profit jump 10% to 469.78 million ringgit,

01:33 as write-back-off provisions and lower loan impairments more than offset the weaker operating

01:38 profit in the quarter. This is its highest quarterly net profit attributable to equity

01:43 holders since the fourth quarter of FY2015, when it posted earnings of 519.22 million ringgit,

01:51 revenue contracted by about 4% to 1.12 billion ringgit. The banking group declared a dividend

01:57 of 6M per share. For the first half of FY2024, AMNB's net profit was 1.3% higher at 848.15

02:06 million ringgit, while revenue stood at 2.33 billion ringgit. Outgoing AmBank Group CEO

02:12 Dato' Sulaiman Muhammad Tahir, who will retire tomorrow, said the lender delivered a resilient

02:18 set of first-half results and that it had continued to strengthen its capital ratios

02:23 and regained its AA2 credit rating by RAM ratings. He said the group is optimistic that growth of the

02:29 Malaysian economy will continue to be solid in the second half of FY2024, driven by domestic

02:35 demand despite the current volatile global financial markets and continued geopolitical tensions.

02:42 Support for Prime Minister Dato' Sri Anwar Ibrahim has fallen after less than a year of being in

02:52 power, Bloomberg reports, as concerns over the economy dominate voters' minds. Citing a poll

02:59 by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, the report said his approval rating has dropped to 50%

03:05 from 68% in December. The poll, which was conducted last month, also showed dissatisfaction

03:11 over the government's handling of the economy climbed to 43% from 19%. The ruling coalition's

03:18 rating has declined to 41% from 54%, with 78% of voters citing economic concerns as the biggest

03:27 issue that they face. The report notes that even though Anwar has a super majority in parliament,

03:32 that no Malaysian leader has obtained since 2008, he has spent his first year being tentative about

03:39 undoing hefty subsidies and broadening government revenue - unpopular measures that were seen

03:45 necessary but tricky amid political volatility and rising right-wing fundamentalism. Merdeka

03:51 Centre was quoted as saying that the survey reflects the expectations held by the electorate

03:57 on the administration to regenerate economic growth as well as address

04:01 long-standing anxiety over inflation and tepid wage growth.

04:05 Bowster Plantations returned to the black in the third quarter of FY2023, mainly due to improved

04:17 oil extraction rate, reduced operating costs and the favourable impact of fresh fruit bunch

04:22 valuation. The increase in output was also attributable to better weather conditions,

04:27 coupled with the return of a higher number of foreign workers. In a filing with The Bourse,

04:33 the group said it booked earnings of RM15.22 million against a net loss of RM352,000 a year ago.

04:40 Quarterly revenue was 15% lower at RM202.55 million. Looking ahead, its acting CEO,

04:47 Fahmi Ismail, said despite the El Nino weather phenomenon, Malaysia's palm oil production is

04:53 projected to rise on the back of an improved workforce and increasing maturity of palm

04:58 trees available for harvesting. Meanwhile, Bowster Group CEO Izzah Din Daud said he believes Bowster

05:04 Plantations is currently moving on the right trajectory by focusing on operational improvements

05:10 to enhance its long-term prospects.

05:13 [Music]

05:17 MHB aims to reopen all of its retail space at KLIA by the first quarter of next year,

05:24 and 90% of the space by the end of this year. Acting CEO Mohd Rashtam Shahrom attended the

05:30 opening ceremony of two Eraman duty-free stores by Malaysia Airport's Nyaga today.

05:35 He noted that the vibrancy is coming back to the airport, and expressed hope that this

05:40 vibrancy will get KLIA back to its shine. MHB is undertaking a major overhaul of the

05:46 retail and F&B area at KLIA, which resulted in certain portions of the country's main air travel

05:53 gateway to be dotted by shopfront hoarding, even though it has been one and a half years

05:58 since Malaysia reopened its borders. It is unclear what the latest percentage of outlets that stay

06:04 unopened to date is, and if these outlets are generating rental revenue to the group.

06:09 As for Eraman, Mohd Rashtam said the duty-free

06:12 business has already returned to profit with passenger recovery at KLIA.

06:17 [Music]

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