KUALA LUMPUR: BIMB Holdings Bhd’s net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15) came in almost flat at RM129.89 million compared with RM129.67 million in the previous corresponding quarter. 

BIMB Holdings (valuation: 2.2; fundamental: 2.7) said its earnings were mainly driven by higher income from investment of depositors’ funds and the takaful business. 

Its revenue for the quarter grew 10.9% to RM814.7 million, according to BIMB Holdings’ announcement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday. Earnings per share dropped marginally to 8.42 sen for the quarter. 

For the six-month period ended June 30, 2015 (1HFY15), BIMB Holdings’ net profit rose 4.9% to RM265.59 million or 17.26 sen per share. Revenue was up 10.96% to RM1.62 billion.

Bank Islam group reported a profit before zakat and taxation (PBZT) of RM350.3 million for 1HFY15, an increase of 4.5% or RM15 million, compared to the corresponding period in FY14, mainly attributed to the growth in business activities.

For 1HFY15, BIMB Holdings’ wholly-owned unit Bank Islam declared an interim single-tier dividend of 5.27 sen per share, amounting to RM123.5 million.

“Approximately 50% of the proposed interim single-tier dividend, totalling RM61.7 million, is to be reinvested to subscribe to new ordinary shares of RM1 at RM3 each, via the dividend reinvestment plan (DRP),” the filing said.

“The proposed dividend and the DRP have been approved by Bank Negara Malaysia,” BIMB Holdings said in a separate statement yesterday.

For 1HFY15, Takaful Malaysia group recorded a PBZT of RM112 million, an increase of 11.7% compared with RM100.3 million in the corresponding period in FY14, mainly attributed to higher wakalah fee income.

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on September 15, 2015.