Public Bank managing director and chief executive officer Tan Sri Tay Ah Lek.
PETALING JAYA: Building on improved earnings in 2024, Public Bank Bhd
anticipates the domestic banking sector will remain resilient, underpinned by ample liquidity and healthy capital buffers.
This follows the group’s announcement of sustained growth in both its loans and deposits businesses in 2024, along with stronger growth in non-interest income.
Moving forward, non-interest income is expected to be further enhanced by the group’s purchase of a 44.15% stake in LPI Capital Bhd.
“The group expects greater business synergies leveraging on the extended customer reach. Through strategic business collaborations, the group will drive more cross-selling activities to boost business growth of both entities,” said managing director Tan Sri Tay Ah Lek in a statement.
He also highlighted the group’s prudent cost management, as reflected in a cost-to-income ratio of 34.5% in 2024. The group achieved a net return on equity of 13.2%.
For financial year 2024 (FY24), Public Bank registered a net profit of RM7.15bil, up from RM6.65bil in FY23, while revenue dipped to RM27.21bil from RM25.42bil in the previous year.
Earnings per share for the year rose to 36.84 sen compared to 34.26 sen in 2023.
The group said pre-tax profit increased 4.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM8.93bil in FY24. Stripping out the one-off impairment of goodwill of RM473.8mil incurred for the group’s Hong Kong operations, the group’s pre-tax profit would have charted a higher growth of 10.1% y-o-y.
In the fourth quarter of 2024 (4Q24) alone, the group posted a net profit of RM1.8bil, up from RM1.62bil in 4Q23, while revenue rose to RM7.06bil from RM6.55bil.
The group declared a second interim dividend of 11 sen per share. Public Bank ended 2.02% higher yesterday at RM4.55.
