Saturday, Feb 02, 2013
BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--Jordan's Arab Bank (ARBK.AJ) posted a 15% rise in 2012 full-year net profit, mainly driven by a growth in net interest income and continuous cost control.
Full-year net profit increased to $352 million last year from $305.9 million in 2011, the bank said in a statement Saturday.
Arab Bank has sustained its prudent policies regarding asset quality and boosted the provisioning coverage on all nonperforming loans to more than 100%, excluding the value of collaterals held, Nemeh Sabbagh, the lender's chief executive, said in the statement.
Chairman Sabih Masri said that these results come despite a challenging political and economic environment in the Arab region.
Mr. Masri said the board will propose a dividend payout for 2012 at the rate of 30% of the share's par value compared with 25% in 2011 and 20% in 2010.
The bank currently has 534 million shares outstanding, each with a par value of 1 Jordanian dinar ($1.41), according to Zawya.com data.
Write to Shikrallah Nakhoul at shikrallah@zawya.com
Order free Annual Report for Arab Bank Plc
Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=JO1302311013 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-02-13 1437GMT
