Thursday, May 16, 2013
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Egypt's Commercial International Bank (CIBEY), or CIB, reported a 30% rise in first-quarter net profit on higher revenues and said it was upbeat about the rest of the year despite the country's economic troubles.
CIB, Egypt's largest bank by market value, said its quarterly net profit rose to 658 million Egyptian pounds ($94.3 million) from EGP505 million in the year-ago quarter, according to the bank's financial statements. The group's consolidated revenue rose 40% to EGP1.6 billion.
"Although we faced a higher cost of risk resulting from a change of outlook in the tourism and textiles sectors, nimble management actions allowed us to absorb this cost in our stride and have positioned us well for the rest of the year," said Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, chairman and managing director of CIB.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's recently lowered its rating on CIB and 3 other Egyptian banks because these lenders hold a big portion of government debt.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
16-05-13 0536GMT
