PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Building Society Bhd’s (MBSB) net profit tripled to RM356.69 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2019 against RM117.96 million in the same quarter a year ago, due to the expected credit loss writeback.
Revenue was up 15.3% to RM784.14 million from RM680.37 million.
For the full-year period, MBSB’s net profit expanded 11.6% to RM716.9 million from RM642.4 million, while revenue increased 5.2% to RM3.01 billion from RM2.86 billion.
During the year, MBSB’s net impaired loans, financing and advances saw an improvement of 0.05% to 2.34% in FY19 compared to 2.39% in FY18.
However, net profit margin regressed slightly to 2.89% in FY19 compared to 3.06% in FY18 following the overnight policy rate (OPR) cut in May 2019.
MBSB’s common equity tier-1 capital ratio stood at 19.24% as at December 31, 2019.
The group’s cost-to-income ratio improved to 28.37% from 29.53% in FY18. Operating profit stood at RM1.01 billion, higher than the RM970 million in FY18.
In addressing the present economic challenges, MBSB group president & CEO Datuk Seri Ahmad Zaini Othman said the group takes cognisant of the unfavourable factors currently affecting the economy, especially the Covid-19 virus and the political landscape.
“We have taken the necessary steps to manage these risks as well as putting in place the initiatives to accommodate customers who are distressed by the negative impact of Covid-19. Our business diversification into other sectors for example, renewable energy has also shown results as we have granted financing facilities amounting to over half a billion ringgit to certain key players.”
