KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — Maybank Bhd’s share price was up at lunch break today after the bank recorded a better financial performance for the second quarter of 2023 (2Q 2023) and the first half of the year ended June 30, 2023 (1H 2023).

At 12.30pm, the company’s shares rose three sen or 0.33 per cent to RM9.14 per unit, with 4.05 million shares traded on Bursa Malaysia.

According to a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday, Maybank’s net profit for 2Q 2023 rose 45.4 per cent to RM2.34 billion from RM1.61 billion in the same quarter last year, while revenue advanced to RM16.13 billion from RM10.21 billion previously.

Meanwhile, net profit rose 26 per cent to RM4.60 billion in 1H 2023 from RM3.67 billion in the same period last year. Similarly, revenue increased to RM31.32 billion from RM21.36 billion previously.

Separately, it reported that Maybank is optimistic about registering growth for 2H 2023, backed by the stable outlook on the overnight policy rate (OPR), which is likely to be maintained at 3.00 per cent for 2023.

In a note today, AmInvestment Bank Bhd said the six-month 2023 earnings were within expectations accounting for 48.4 per cent and 49.3 per cent of consensus estimate.

"However, we tweaked 2023/ 2024/ 2025 earnings forecast by 3.4 per cent/ 3.1 per cent/ 5.8 per cent after adjusting our net interest margin (NIM) estimates and credit cost assumptions lower,” it said.

AmInvestment Bank has maintained its ’buy’ call on Maybank with an unchanged fair value of RM10.00 per share and a target price of RM9.11. — Bernama