KUALA LUMPUR: AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd topped the gainer’s list on Bursa Malaysia in early trade Friday after it reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.

       The counter added 3.01%, or 40 sen to RM13.70. Year-to-date, it has risen more than 13%.

       Aeon Credit’s net profit surged to RM103.46mil in the third quarter (3Q) ended November 30, 2021, from the RM42.15mil posted in the same quarter a year ago.

       Revenue for the quarter fell 6.2% to RM276.47mil from RM401.47mil last year.

       For the nine months, Aeon Credit's net profit increased to RM342.04mil against RM120.24mil, while revenue rose to RM1.61bil from RM1.16bil previously.

       MIDF Research said Aeon Credit recorded a 9MFY22 net profit that was above its expectation at 85.6% of its full year estimate. The variance was due to its overestimation of its financing impairment.

       “We are revising our FY22 earnings forecast upwards by 9.2% to RM436.5mil, taking into account lower impairment loss,” it said.

       The research house noted that Aeon Credit financial performance rebounded strongly after MCO 3.0. Granted, this was due to lower provisions.

       “However, we opine that this may suggest that the worst may be behind them for Aeon Credit.

       “There may be some lingering effect but we believe that Aeon Credit will maintain its upward earnings trajectory. We believe it will be one of the beneficiaries of the economic reopening.

       “All-in, we maintain ‘trading buy’. We maintain our target price to RM15.20 as we peg our forecast of Aeon Credit’s FY23 book value per share to PBV of 1.7x,” MIDF said.