KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30): AMMB Holdings Bhd's net profit for the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (2QFY2023) rose 35.6% to RM435.40 million, from RM321.04 million a year earlier, on the back of higher loan growth and net interest margin expansion.

In a bourse filing on Wednesday (Nov 30), AMMB said revenue for the quarter edged up to RM1.18 billion from RM1.12 billion a year ago.

Earnings per share rose to 13.15 sen from 9.69 sen.

The banking group declared an interim dividend of six sen per share, with a dividend payout ratio of 23%.

For the cumulative six months ended Sept 30, 2022, AMMB posted a net profit of RM854.60 million from RM707.64 million previously, on the back of revenue of RM2.35 billion versus RM2.36 billion.

In a separate statement, AmBank Group chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said the top-line and bottom-line results are a clear reflection of the bank’s efforts to strengthen market share while managing its asset quality.

“Despite headwinds, we have been able to register strong results due to our solid fundamentals,” he said.

AMMB said overall expenses increased by 3.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM1.05 billion, with the cost-to-income ratio higher at 44.6%, compared with 42.7% in the previous year.

However, it said expenses remained flat y-o-y after adjusting for the reversal of excess bonus accruals from the previous year.

The bank said profit before provisions of RM1.29 billion was achieved, while profit after tax and minority interests was up 20.8% y-o-y at RM854.6 million.

The annualised return on equity for the first half ended Sept 30, 2022 increased to 10.0% from 9.0% for the same period last year, it said.

AMMB said gross loans and financing increased by 3.6% or RM4.4 billion year-to-date to RM124.4 billion, with diversified growth seen across its business segments.

It said loans in wholesale banking grew RM1.7 billion (+5.6%), followed by business banking by RM0.6 billion (+3.2%), and retail banking by RM1.9 billion (+2.7%).

At the midday break on Wednesday, AMMB had added 0.49% or two sen to RM4.14 apiece, with 1.21 million shares done.