KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): Public Bank Bhd fell as much as 1.3% in morning trades following news its co-chairman Tan Sri Thong Yaw Hong had died Thursday following a period of illness.

At 11.36am today, Public Bank (fundamental: 1.8; valuation: 0.9) lost 20 sen or 1.1% to RM18.76. The eighth top decliner saw trades of some 1.7 million shares. It had earlier fallen to a low of RM18.72.

“It looks like a knee-jerk reaction [to the news]. There doesn’t seem to be any other development that may impact share price,” Kenanga Research analyst Kelly Tan told theedgemarkets.com over the telephone.

Tan assured that the banking and financial group’s fundamentals were still intact, adding she maintained her “market perform” rating for the stock with an unchanged target price of RM19.30.

“Its first quarter results met expectations. There was strong year-on-year net profit growth of 15.2%.

“The group still has excellent asset quality with the lowest gross impaired loans amongst listed peers,” she said.

A bank-backed research analyst concurred the demise of Thong introduced “no change” in the group’s fundamentals.

He noted Public Bank has succession plans in place already, with the “younger batch” being groomed to take the reins in management.

In a statement today, Public Bank chairman Tan Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow said Thong would always be remembered for his contribution to the government and corporate sectors.

“We are indeed greatly saddened by the loss. We will miss him.

“The board of directors of the Public Bank Group acknowledge Tan Sri Datuk Seri Utama Thong Yaw Hong’s par excellence calibre and his invaluable contributions over his 29 years with the Public Bank Group,” said Teh.

According to Public Bank's statement, Thong had served in the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Department since 1957. He subsequently became the EPU's director general from 1971 to 1978.

Thong was later appointed as Finance Ministry secretary general from 1979 until his retirement in 1986.

(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.)