Bumi-Commerce may raise profit target

Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd, Malaysia’s second biggest bank, plans to review its targets for this year, saying capital markets continue to improve and the fallout from the global recession may have been overestimated.

The bank’s profit, return-on-equity and dividend payout targets for 2009 may be raised after the company announces second-quarter results, chief executive officer Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said in Kuala Lumpur today.

“Concerns over the global economic crisis may have been overdone,” he said. “It’s an interesting time to invest here because the believers could make money.”Liquidity on the Malaysian stock exchange has returned after last year’s slump, Nazir said. The bank is due to announce second-quarter results in August, he said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index has climbed 19 per cent this year after a 39 per cent tumble in 2008. The 1.14 billion shares traded in the past three months is almost double the total in the same period a year ago. Bumiputra-Commerce today added 0.6 per cent to RM8.85 at 11:57 am local time.

Bumiputra-Commerce on May 14 reported its first profit increase in five quarters. The Kuala Lumpur-based bank at the time kept its return-on-equity target, a gauge of how effectively earnings are reinvested, at 12.5 per cent for 2009, and maintained the goal for total loan growth at 8 per cent. - Bloomberg