Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia's Arab National Bank (1080.SA) said first-quarter net profit rose 3.5% on the year as operating income edged higher.
Net income in the latest three month period amounted to 678.7 million Saudi riyals ($183 million), up from SAR655.5 million in the year ago period, the lender said in a brief statement posted on the Tadawul website on Tuesday.
The result easily beat the SAR612 million effort that analysts at Cairo-based EFG Hermes had penciled in.
Total operating income for the first quarter rose 6.1% to SAR1.27 billion, Arab National Bank said, while total assets amounted to SAR133.7 billion at the end of March, a 6.6% on the year. The lender's loans portfolio increased by 14% to stand at SAR86 billion at the end of the quarter.
ANB shares closed trading Tuesday up 2.6% at SAR27.80.
Write to Tim Falconer at tim.falconer@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-04-13 1342GMT
