HONG LEONG ... June 09

HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP's Net Profit for 3QE Mar 31, 2009 dipped 1% to RM131.9m from RM133.3m a year earlier mainly due to lower contributions from the banking and stockbroking divisions.

Revenue fell 8.6% to RM525.7m from RM575.3m while basic EPS fell marginally to 12.7 sen from 12.8 sen.

HONG LEONG BANK's Net Profit for 3QE Mar 2009 rose marginally to RM206.5m from RM205.7m a year earlier while Revenue fell 7.8% to RM491.0m from RM532.8m.

9ME MAR 2009 RESULTS HIGHER
For 9ME Mar 31, 2009, HLFG's Net Profit rose 9% to RM440.6m from RM404.2m a year earlier due to higher contributions from the banking division.

Revenue for the 9M period was up 1.8% to RM1.695 bil from RM1.664 bil while basic EPS rose to 42.5 sen from 39 sen.

HONG LEONG BANK 9M RESULTS
For the 9M period, HONG LEONG BANK's Net Profit rose 16% to RM705.9m from RM607.8m mainly due to higher Net Interest Income. Revenue rose 4.8% to RM1.605 bil from RM1.531 bil a year earlier while basic EPS rose to 48.72 sen from 41.94 sen previously.

YVONNE CHIA - Group MD & CEO of the Bank said that the bank had continued to post satisfactory results despite significant pressures on the economy and banking sector in line with regional and global developments. " .... The three consecutive cuts of the overnight policy rate (OPR) totalling 1.5% between Nov 2008 and Feb 2009 directly compressed the Net Interest Margin ...." she said.

Notwithstanding the interest rate cuts, YVONNE CHIA said the Bank's franchise continued to be resilient, adding it had sufficient earnings power and was positioned to emerge from the current down-cycle stronger. She said the Bank had transformed its domestic operations ahead of this down-cycle and built it to a higher level of scale and capacity over the last few years.
" .... The next phase in this challenging climate is to continue growing revenue, pursue operational excellence and increase productivity, whilst enlarging market share and targeting new markets, new segments, new customers and new technologies ...." CHIA added.

HLG CAPITAL RECORDS LOSS
Meanwhile, HLG CAPITAL posted a Net Loss of RM460k for 3QE Mar 2009 compared to a Net Profit of RM3.3m a year earlier. The loss was mainly due to lower contribution from stockbroking business which was affected by lower Bursa Malaysia trading volume and lower revenue from unit trust business which held back new fund launches as a result of weak market sentiment.