KUALA LUMPUR (April 20): AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd’s net profit jumped 15.8% to RM55.4 million in the fourth quarter ended Feb 20, 2015, from RM47.8 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

Revenue leapt 20.4% to RM226.37 million, from RM187.99 million previously.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, AEON Credit said its total transaction and financing volume in the fourth quarter and the full-year was RM834 million and RM3.393 billion, representing growth of 8.5% and 4.7% respectively.

The firm added that higher growth was recorded for its auto financing operations.

According to AEON Credit, its other operating income grew 37.3% and 43.8% to RM16.08 million and RM56.08 million for the fourth quarter and full-year respectively.

It said this was mainly contributed by increase in bad debts recovered and AEON Big loyalty programme processing fee.

It added financing receivables registered RM4.547 billion as at Feb 20, 2015, representing an increase of 27.3%, from RM 3.571 billion as at Feb 20, 2014.

Meanwhile, the non-performing loans (NPL) ratio recorded 2.75% as at Feb 20, 2015, as compared to 2.14% as at Feb 20, 2014.

For the full-year, net profit climbed 18.3% to RM207.4 million, from RM175.4 million in the previous year; while revenue surged 26.8% to RM852.8 million, from RM672.8 million previously.

Going forward, AEON Credit expects to maintain its current performance in the financial year ending Feb 29, 2016, based on implementation of its business plan.

The board has approved the change of financial year end of the company to Feb 28, from Feb 20, to be “co-terminous” with the financial year end of the ultimate holding company.

AEON Credit closed unchanged at RM14.48 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM2.09 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.)