KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd reported a strong set of earnings in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2009, recording net profit of RM802.89 million, up 152% from the RM318.59 million a year ago.
The group declared a dividend of 18.5 sen (single tier) amounting to a total net payment of RM653 million and proposed a one-for-one bonus issue.
It said on Tuesday, Feb 23 that for 4Q09, the net profit of RM803 million was 10.5% higher than 3Q09. Its revenue was RM2.78 billion versus RM1.88 billion. Earnings per share were 22.73 sen versus 9.19 sen.
Group chief executive of CIMB Group Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said: "The 2009 operating environment turned out much better than anticipated and our people excelled, posting our best ever financial performance and met or exceeded all our key targets set for the year."
"Investors who rode the year with us enjoyed a 123% total shareholder return, 74% higher than the KLCI benchmark."
For FY09, full year net profit was RM2.807 billion, up 43.8% year-on-year growth and equivalent to net EPS of 79.5 sen. The FY09 net return on equity (ROE) of 15.0% was above the original target of 12.5% and in line with the revised 14%-15% target for the year. Revenue was RM10.67 billion compared with RM7.74 billion.
CIMB Group’s FY09 revenues increased by 37.8% year-on-year to RM10.67 billion while profit before tax (PBT) grew by 40.4% to RM3.812 billion.
In 2009, the group’s Malaysian consumer “good” bank PBT grew 46.1% on-year on the back of an 8.9% growth in revenues and a 30.9% on-year drop in net loan loss provisions. The lower recoveries at Group Special Assets Management (or “bad” bank) brought about the relatively flat 1% on-year growth in PBT at the overall Malaysian consumer bank.
On the proposed one-for-one bonus issue, the plan would be to increase its number of shares in issue from 3,531.76 million to 7,063.53 million. The objectives of the bonus issue are to improve tradability of CIMB Group shares and to align its quoted share price with pricing conventions on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) ahead of the group’s proposed listing later this year.
“We had a very good 2009, financially as well as in the overall development of our regional franchise. Our regional model remains “work-in-progress” and we are determined to realise its full potential over the next few years. In 2010, we anticipate navigating a quite different set of challenges – in particular, margin compression from more intense competition, turn in the interest rate cycle and new rules and conventions arising from global banking reform.
"The improved economic environment will nevertheless translate to higher demand for banking and capital market solutions and lower credit defaults. Therefore we are setting higher financial targets for this year,” said Nazir.
Among the various KPI targets for 2010, CIMB Group has set its sights on ROE of 16.0% and total region-wide loan and the current account and savings account growth of 12% and 18% respectively. Its dividend target remains at 18.5 sen but this will be reviewed after implementation of the FRS139 accounting standard and Basel II later this year.
