Malaysia's RHB Bank 1Q Net Profit Down 11.4% at MYR500.28 Million

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia-- RHB Bank Bhd. (1066.KU), Malaysia's fourth-largest lender by assets, said Tuesday its net profit for the first quarter ended March dropped 11.4% compared with the year before, mainly due to lower total income and higher impairment losses for loans.

Net profit for the January-March period declined to 500.28 million ringgit ($116.22 million) from MYR564.89 million the same period a year ago, according to its financial statement in a local stock exchange filing.

Revenue fell 3.4% to MYR2.62 billion during the quarter from MYR2.71 billion a year ago.

RHB Bank said it expects to deliver a better performance this year. It said loan growth in the Malaysian banking sector is expected to range between 5.5% to 6.0%, with lending to businesses being the key growth driver, though household loans growth is expected to be moderate.

Shares of RHB were 0.4% lower at MYR5.39 at the midday break, before the earnings announcement. Shares of the bank have climbed some 14% year-to-date.

-- Write to Yantoultra.ngui@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2017 01:16 ET (05:16 GMT)