Investing.com — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group reported a record first-half net profit of 1.63 trillion yen ($10.4 billion) on Friday, up 26% from a year earlier, and raised its full-year net profit target to 2.8 trillion yen from 2.7 trillion.
The group also announced a share buyback of up to 200 billion yen for the second half and raised its annual dividend forecast to 100 yen a share.
The first-half profit, for the six months to Sept. 30, was the fourth straight record for the period. Net operating profit (NOP) rose 26% to 1.62 trillion yen, driven by higher loan and deposit income and fee income, despite inflation and cybersecurity costs.
Net interest income rose 29% to 1.85 trillion yen, helped by higher Japanese interest rates, which the company said added about 140 billion yen to net operating profit, and by loan growth at home and abroad. A weaker yen added about 35 billion yen.
Fee income rose 14% to 1.23 trillion yen.
Outside the core business, equity in earnings of equity-method investees rose 91.3 billion yen to 473.2 billion yen, helped by Morgan Stanley, and net gains on equity securities rose to 210.3 billion yen from 130.2 billion yen. That was partly offset by 196 billion yen of net losses on debt securities, mostly from rebalancing the portfolio, including sales of U.S. mortgage-backed securities.
Credit costs fell to 70.9 billion yen from 76.3 billion yen. Return on equity was 14.5%, up from 12.5%.
MUFG raised its net profit target on strong results from its customer businesses and higher equity-method earnings, but left its net operating profit target at 2.9 trillion yen and its credit cost target at 350 billion yen, saying it wants room for growth investment.
“The FY26 NOP target remains unchanged, considering future growth initiatives,” the company said.
MUFG raised its dividend forecast by 14 yen from last year, and 4 yen above its initial forecast, with an interim payment of 48 yen.
Original Article
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