The group’s revenue remained on a par with the year-ago performance at RM1.18bil as compared to RM1.2bil.
KUALA LUMPUR: AMMB Holdings Bhd
(AmBank) remains optimistic about its prospects for its financial year 2025 (FY25) after having observed the positive economic momentum across all sectors in 2024.
The banking group has announced a strong start to its new financial year with a higher net profit of RM500.2mil in the first quarter of FY25 (1Q25), as compared to RM378.37mil in the year-ago quarter.
The group’s revenue remained on a par with the year-ago performance at RM1.18bil as compared to RM1.2bil, while earnings per share rose to 15.13 sen from 11.44 sen previously.
“We have made a great start to the new financial year as we execute our Winning Together Strategy and we remain optimistic in our FY25 prospects,” said AmBank group chief executive officer Jamie Ling in a statement.
During the quarter, the group’s net interest income rose 6.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM860.9mil due to a 13-basis point y-o-y expansion in net interest margin to 1.89%.
Gross loans, advances and financing grew 2.9% y-o-y, mainly due to business banking loans growth of 16.5% y-o-y.
Meanwhile, non-interest income was 19.2% lower y-o-y to RM317.6mil due to the absence of the AmGen divestment gain of RM51.5mil and lower trading and securities gain.The group reported continuing operations’ net income of RM1.18bil, which was 2.4% higher y-o-y.
Overall expenses in 1Q25 were 2.5% higher y-o-y to RM520.6mil, resulting in a higher cost-to-income of 44.2%, against 42.2% previously.
Total gross loans, advances and financing decreased a marginal 1.1% year-to-date (y-t-d) to RM132.7bil, mainly due to a large loan repayment in wholesale banking, offset by growth in business banking.
Total customer deposits decreased 4.8% y-t-d to RM135.5bil as the group managed its cost of funds and diversified funding sources to improve margins.
Time deposits remained flat y-t-d at RM89.7bil while current account savings account (Casa) decreased 13.3% y-t-d to RM45.8bil. Casa mix declined to 33.8% from 37.1% in FY24.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the group said it would be driving its small and medium enterprise and mid-corp segments to lead lending growth, building out its wealth management offerings and developing efficient supply chain solutions for customers.
“The group will continue to invest in technology, in line with its digitalisation agenda, to achieve operational excellence through improved process efficiency and the development of productivity tools.
“To future-proof its workforce, the group will strengthen its talent pool by acquiring and developing new skills and capabilities as required.
“Sustainability continues to be at the forefront of our key priorities as our legitimacy to operate and to reinforce our franchise,” it said.
