KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30): RHB Capital Bhd's net profit fell 64% to RM194.44 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) from RM544.61 million a year earlier. Profit fell on lower non-interest income as the group registered workforce-downsizing cost and higher operating expenses.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia today, RHB Capital said revenue declined to RM2.64 billion from RM2.72 billion in 3QFY14.

"The group expected 2015 to be challenging and has focused on maintaining asset quality and improving operational efficiency," RHB Capital said.

RHB Capital's workforce-downsizing programme was known as the career transition scheme (CTS).

The group said the net profit for the nine-month period (9MFY15) fell to RM1.2 billion from RM1.55 billion. Revenue was, however, higher at RM7.98 billion versus RM7.58 billion.

"Excluding a one-off CTS expenses of RM308.8 million, the group's normalised pre-tax profit was at RM1,940.3 million, lower by 7.2%.

"This was mainly attributed to lower investment banking related fee income and lower trading income and higher operating expenses," it said.

RHB Capital foresees a challenging Malaysian banking landscape amid economic uncertainties.

The group said it expected industry loan growth to slow to between 7.5% and 8.5% while "capital market activities will continue to remain low given the macroeconomic uncertainties".

"The group is confident that the transformation programme will continue its positive momentum to achieve its targets. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group's 2015 performance will be satisfactory," RHB Capital said.

At 12.30pm today, RHB Capital shares fell two sen or 0.4% to RM5.54 for a market capitalisation of RM17.21 billion. The stock saw 641,900 shares done.

(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.)