MONEY MASTER

  Maybank (KL:MAYBANK) Net Profit : RM2.63b (+4% YoY) EPS : 21.75 sen NII : +1.1% YoY NOII : Higher, supported by fees and trading Provisions : Higher bad debt charges, but offset by income growth Dividend : 30 sen  first interim cash dividend  (dates TBD) Guidance : Reaffirmed FY2025 ROE target ≥ 11.3%  Takeaway : Resilient earnings with strong dividend payout. Higher provisions are a watchpoint, but Maybank remains attractive for income-focused investors. Public Bank (KL:PBBANK) Net Profit : RM1.76b (-1% YoY) NII : +5.1% YoY NOII : +15% YoY Drag Factor : Lower non-taxable income pressured bottom line Asset Quality : Remains strong with prudent loan loss reserves Dividend : 10.5 sen  first interim dividend , ex-date Sept 12, payable Sept 24 Takeaway : Profit dipped slightly, but underlying income growth is strong. Public Bank maintains its hallmark of  asset quality discipline and steady dividends , though its yield trails Maybank’s more generous payout. ...

Public Bank Bhd, Malaysia’s third-largest bank by assets, reported a solid 10% increase in net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024 (2QFY2024), driven by higher net interest income and non-interest income. The bank’s net profit for the quarter rose to RM1.78 billion from RM1.62 billion in the same period last year. Key Financial Highlights: Profit and Dividend : Public Bank declared a first interim dividend of 10 sen per share, amounting to RM1.94 billion, payable on September 23, 2024. For 2QFY2024, net interest income rose 5% year-on-year to RM2.32 billion. The group's net profit for the first half of FY2024 (1HFY2024) was RM3.44 billion, up more than 3% from RM3.33 billion in 1HFY2023. Revenue and Income Growth : Revenue for 1HFY2024 increased by 8.9% to RM13.49 billion, compared to RM12.39 billion in the previous year. The bank’s non-interest income also recorded a growth of 5.8% to RM1.32 billion, largely driven by higher income from unit trust and stockbroking bu...

On Wednesday (2nd March), Macquarie Equities Research (MER) released a research report, discussing data on the loan and deposit growth for Malaysia for the month of January. The report highlighted that the overall non-performing loans (NPL) in Malaysia increased 0.8%, mainly contributed by real estate & construction and auto financing. MER also expressed their defensive view on the Malaysian banks while stating Public Bank as their top pick in Malaysia.   Read on excerpts from the report titled “Singapore loans contracted while Malaysia asset quality worsened” below… Public Bank Bhd Event • Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) released loan and deposit growth data for Malaysia for January 2016. • In Malaysia, asset quality trends were negative. Non-performing loans (NPLs) increased 0.8% MoM mainly driven by real estate & construction, and auto financing. The uptick in real estate & construction NPL was mainly due to slowdown in property sales leading to cash flow problems...

Maintain Neutral, Public Bank as top pick The 4Q15 results season, while mixed, reinforces our view that sector ROE has yet to bottom out with most banks guiding for lower ROEs ahead. We continue to see a challenging environment ahead for banks with: i) asset growth likely constrained by tighter liquidity and soft macroeconomic conditions, ii) NIMs still under pressure, iii) capital markets yet to recover meaningfully, and iv) higher credit costs ahead – all of which should keep bottomline growth muted, in our view. We keep our NEUTRAL sector call. Banking sector 4Q15 a mixed quarter for the banks . Three out of the seven banking stocks that we cover reported results that were in line with our estimates. Affin and Hong Leong Bank (HL Bank) both missed our and consensus estimates with the main variances being weaker-than-expected associate contribution (Affin and HL Bank) and lower-than-expected net interest margin (NIM) (HL Bank). CIMB’s results were in line with our expe...