KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd reported a 13% drop in its third quarter net profit from a year earlier as net interest and non-interest income declined.

Higher expenses and bad loan allowance also curbed profit growth, Hong Leong Financial told Bursa Malaysia today.

Hong Leong Financial said net profit fell to RM315.07 million in the third quarter ended March 31, 2016 (3QFY16) from RM363.5 million. Revenue declined to RM1.03 billion from RM1.05 billion.

"The decrease was mainly due to lower contribution across all operating divisions," Hong Leong Financial said.

Hong Leong Financial owns 65.45% of Hong Leong Bank Bhd and 81.33% of Hong Leong Capital Bhd.

In separate statements to the bourse, Hong Leong Bank said 3QFY16 net profit fell to RM497.83 million from RM519.17 million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Capital said 3QFY16 profit before tax declined to RM14.48 million from RM16.72 million. Net profit, however, rose to RM17.13 million from RM16.82 million.

Hong Leong Financial said cumulative nine months (9MFY16) net profit fell to RM965.4 million from RM1.18 billion a year earlier although revenue rose to RM3.34 billion from RM3.27 billion.

Despite the 3QFY16 and 9MFY16 net profit drop, Hong Leong Financial said it planned to pay a dividend of 25 sen a share. The ex and payment dates fall on June 9 and 28 respectively this year.

"Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group is expected to maintain performance in line with market conditions for the current financial year," Hong Leong Financial said.

At 12:30pm today, Hong Leong Financial shares fell 12 sen or 0.8% to settle at RM14.96 for a market value of RM17.13 billion. The stock saw 46,900 shares traded.