KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 31): PUBLIC BANK BHD [] shares rose on Tuesday recorded net profit of RM876.98 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2011, up 3.6% from a year ago due to higher net interest and net income from Islamic banking business.
At 9.15am, Public Bank added eight sen to RM13.60 with 47,500 shares traded.
The banking group on Monday declared a second interim single-tier dividend of 28 sen per share.
Its revenue rose 11.8% to RM3.32 billion from RM2.97 billion a year ago. Its earnings per share were 25.04 sen compared with 24.16 sen.
MIDF Research has maintained its Neutral rating on the stock but adjusted the target price (TP) to RM13.30 (previously RM13.00) after tweaking its FY12 BVPS higher to account for a slightly higher FY11 net profit than our forecast.
“Our TP implies an ROE of 23.0% for FY12.
“We continue to peg the stock to a forward PBVR of 2.8x and PER of 13.0x. Our forward PBVR of 2.8x is lower than the PB multiple during the financial crisis period (2008-2009) of 3.1x,” it said.
The research house said Public Bank’s NIM (inclusive of Islamic banking income) in 4QFY11 was marginally 2.6% (3QFY11: 2.7%). The group’s NIM is expected to remain under pressure, it said.
“While the competition for retail loans is expected to ease off with the introduction of guidelines on responsible financing for retail loans, we believe that competition for deposit will remain in intense for at least the next two quarters of FY12 due to Basel III which requires banks to have stability in funding and liquid assets,” it said.
At 9.15am, Public Bank added eight sen to RM13.60 with 47,500 shares traded.
The banking group on Monday declared a second interim single-tier dividend of 28 sen per share.
Its revenue rose 11.8% to RM3.32 billion from RM2.97 billion a year ago. Its earnings per share were 25.04 sen compared with 24.16 sen.
MIDF Research has maintained its Neutral rating on the stock but adjusted the target price (TP) to RM13.30 (previously RM13.00) after tweaking its FY12 BVPS higher to account for a slightly higher FY11 net profit than our forecast.
“Our TP implies an ROE of 23.0% for FY12.
“We continue to peg the stock to a forward PBVR of 2.8x and PER of 13.0x. Our forward PBVR of 2.8x is lower than the PB multiple during the financial crisis period (2008-2009) of 3.1x,” it said.
The research house said Public Bank’s NIM (inclusive of Islamic banking income) in 4QFY11 was marginally 2.6% (3QFY11: 2.7%). The group’s NIM is expected to remain under pressure, it said.
“While the competition for retail loans is expected to ease off with the introduction of guidelines on responsible financing for retail loans, we believe that competition for deposit will remain in intense for at least the next two quarters of FY12 due to Basel III which requires banks to have stability in funding and liquid assets,” it said.
