KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Building Society Bhd (MBSB) saw its net profit for 2QFY11 ended June 30 jump 58% to RM78.25 million from RM49.51 million a year earlier, mainly due to higher income from Islamic banking and conventional business net interest income.

The financial service provider's revenue ballooned nearly 81% to RM318.56 million during the quarter from RM176.13 million a year ago. Earnings per share increased to 10.52 sen from 7.07 sen previously.

Having chalked up impressive earnings growth, MBSB declared an interim dividend of 5% less tax or net dividend of 3.75 sen per share for FY11 ending Dec 31. The total dividend payment will amount to RM45.58 million.

In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, Aug 2, the property loans provider also attributed the better performance to lower other operating expenses and lower impairment allowances on loans, which were partially off set by lower other income in the current quarter.

"The strong earnings posted for the first half of 2011 were largely contributed to by personal financing-i product," CEO Datuk Ahmad Zaini Othman said in a press release on Tuesday.

"New products, contract financing and SME cash express, have made promising contributions to the company's asset growth due to the encouraging response from corporate customers. MBSB aims to be a preferred financial provider for both of these market segments," he said.

Net assets per share rose to 81.85 sen as at June 30, 2011 from 66.23 as at Dec 31, 2010.

The counter closed two sen or 1.3% lower at RM1.56 on Tuesday with a total of 4.3 million shares changing hands.

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