Sunday, Jul 10, 2011
(This story was originally published Saturday.)
RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia's Alinma Bank (1150.SA) said Saturday its second-quarter net income surged to 102 million Saudi riyals ($27.2 million) from SAR3 million mainly due to a significant growth in its core banking activities.
First-half earnings per share stood at SAR0.12 compared with losses per share of SAR0.05 in the year earlier period, the kingdom's newest Islamic bank said in a statement on the Saudi bourse web site.
Total operating income for the second quarter amounted to SAR307 million versus SAR174 million in the same quarter of last year.
The bank's assets stood at SAR32.5 billion at the end of June, up 30% from a year earlier.
Profits at several Saudi banks were hit in 2009 as they boosted provisions to counter exposure to troubled Saudi firms and the global economic crisis.
Alinma didn't say whether it booked provisions in the three months to June.
Alinma's chief executive, Abdel Mohsen Al-Fares, said earlier this year that the lender, which booked its first provisions against bad loans in the first quarter of 2010, will build them gradually in the future.
The lender will also focus its activities on the local market in the short term, but is open to overseas investment opportunities in the future as well as expanding both its retail and cooperate businesses, Al-Fares said.
-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842-373; summer.said@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-07-11 0356GMT
