KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 25): Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (HLFG) saw a 2.9% increase in its net profit for its second quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (2QFY15) at RM423.84 million compared to RM411.75 million in 2QFY14, due to higher contribution from its banking division.

This brought its earnings per share for 2QFY15 to 40.5 sen, a slight improvement from the 39.5 sen in 2QFY14, its filing with Bursa Malaysia today showed.

HLFG (fundamental: 2.8; valuation: 1.80) said its net income for 2QFY15 had decreased by 2.9% to RM1.14 billion from RM 1.18 billion in the same quarter a year ago, mainly due to lower net income from Hong Leong Bank Group and HLA Holdings Group.

For the first half ended Dec 31, 2014 (1HFY15), the group's net profit fell 3.1% to RM815.99 million as opposed to RM841.94 million in the same period a year ago due to lower insurance earnings, which was attributable to higher actuarial reserves arising from lower interest rates during the period.

Its net income also declined for 1HFY15, falling by 5.2% to RM2.22 billion from RM2.35 billion in 1HFY14, mainly due to  a fall in non-interest income due to lower treasury earnings.

Its EPS for 1HFY15 fell to 77.9 sen from  an EPS of 80.7 sen in the same period a year ago.

Following the release of its latest quarterly financials, HLFG shares were unchanged at RM16.42 at 2.38 pm today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM17.29 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)