KUALA LUMPUR: AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd posted a 43% increase in net profit for its 4QFY12 ended February to RM27.72 million from RM19.4 million a year ago.
Revenue in 4Q increased by 27.9% to RM94.28 million, from RM73.73 million a year ago. For FY12, it posted a 50.7% rise in net profit to RM95.61 million from RM63.43 million a year ago on the back of increased revenue of 27.7% to RM344.27 million from RM269.61 million previously.
In notes accompanying its financials yesterday, AEON Credit said it realised growth in its business and receivables due to an increase in financing transaction volume, which was attributable to the continued favourable economic environment, and marketing and promotion activities.
Its total transaction and financing volume in 4Q and FY12 were RM440 million and RM1.66 billion respectively, representing a growth of 26.2% and 40.9% respectively from a year ago.
Meanwhile, its financing receivables at as end-FY12 stood at RM1.49 billion, representing a growth of 34.5% from RM1.11 billion in FY11. AEON Credit said that its non-performing loans (NPL) ratio was 1.8% as at Feb 2012 compared to 1.83% in February 2011, reflecting satisfactory asset quality despite a sharp growth in its business and receivables in the year.
It said other operating income of RM24.9 million for FY12 was 44.4% higher than the previous year, due to continued growth in fee income, especially for sales in insurance products and increase in bad debts recovered.
AEON Credit yesterday proposed a single-tier final dividend of 16.8 sen for FY12. Including this, total dividends for FY12 amounted to 30 sen. In FY11, it paid dividends amounting to 26.5 sen.
On its prospects, AEON Credit said it expects to be able to sustain its performance in FY13 based on its business strategies, and marketing and branding efforts.
AEON Credit shares closed three sen higher to RM8.74 yesterday, representing a year-to-date return of 26.7%, according to Bloomberg.
Its shares have been on an uptrend since RM4.50 levels in September 2011. Over the past 52-weeks it has traded between a high of RM9 in March 2012 and low of RM4.04 in April 2011.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, April 20, 2012.
