KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — RHB Capital Bhd’s pre-tax profit for the financial year ended December 31, 2013 rose 3.6 per cent to RM2.47 billion from RM2.38 billion in the 2012 financial year.  

Revenue surged to RM9.58 billion from RM8.02 billion.  

For the fourth quarter, the company’s pre-tax profit increased to RM683.06 million from RM560.32 million in the same period in 2012, while revenue increased to RM2.51 billion from RM2.23 billion.          

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, RHB Capital said its total income reached a new high of RM6 billion due to growth in net interest income and customer-driven non-interest income despite a 2.0 per cent decline in profitability for the first nine months of the year.          

“Core operating businesses posted 14.3 per cent increase year-on-year in operating profit before allowances driven by strong net interest income and broad-based increase in fee income.           

“Net interest income increased 10.6 per cent to RM3.3 billion due to 8.2 per cent conventional loans growth year-on-year and a stable net interest margin,” it said.          

Its Islamic banking income increased by 20.6 per cent to RM590.9 million, mainly attributable to higher net funding income, on the back of a 15.1 per cent increase in financing base to RM18.7 billion.          

The group’s total assets expanded by 1.0 per cent to RM191.1 billion as at December 31 last year due to growth in net loans and investment portfolio, while gross loans grew by 9.2 per cent to RM121.8 billion.         

“Retail and Easy by RHB continued to perform well with combined loans growth of 14.1 per cent, higher than the industry retail loans growth of 11.2 per cent, due to an increase in loans for residential properties and purchase of securities.         

“Domestic market share stood at 9.3 per cent as at end-2013 and gross impaired loans ratio improved to 2.81 per cent from 2.99 per cent recorded in December 2012,” it said.          

RHB Capital chairman Datuk Mohamed Khadar Merican said the group had proposed a final single tier dividend of 10.3 per cent totalling RM262.3 million, together with an interim dividend of 6 per cent.         

Total dividend for 2013 amounted to 16.30 per cent per share.          

Moving forward, the banking sector is expected to remain strong on the back of a stronger recovery in the external sector, coupled with a resilient domestic economy, expected to grow by 5.4 per cent this year.          

Mohamed Khadar said the group expects performance for the 2014 financial year to continue its growth momentum.          

“Leveraging a wider regional network and competitive domestic franchise, we will continue executing strategies towards our goals of increasing non-Malaysian revenue contribution and improving domestic market share in chosen segments,” he added. — Bernama