Thursday, Oct 13, 2011

(This story was originally published Wednesday.)

--Third-quarter net profit at $516.3 million

--Earnings per share up 7.4% compared with the previous year

--Shares close slightly higher

RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia's Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SA), the Arab Gulf region's biggest lender by market value, Wednesday said third-quarter net profit rose 18% to 1.94 billion Saudi riyals ($516.3 million), from the year-ago period, due to higher revenue from banking fees and investment income.

Analysts at Cairo-based EFG-Hermes had expected the bank to post a net profit of SAR1.83 billion in the three month period, while analysts at Bahrain-based SICO had penciled in a SAR1.94 billion result.

Earnings per share in the first nine months of the year rose to SAR3.65, from SAR3.40 a year earlier, the bank said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website.

Total operating profit for the third quarter stood at SAR3.19 billion, compared with SAR2.97 billion in the year earlier, while profit from finance and investments edged up 2.53% to SAR2.3 billion.

Total assets as of Sept. 30 reached SAR212.8 billion, up from SAR181.5 billion in the year earlier, while the volume of investments surged 42.2% to SAR43.8 billion. Customer deposits also rose 17.8% to SAR166.8 billion from a year ago.

Profits at most Saudi banks came under pressure in 2009 from increased provisions to counter exposure to some troubled Saudi firms and also from flat credit growth as lenders restricted loans during the global slowdown. But the performance of most banks started to recover last year after the lenders set aside enough provisions to cover the bulk of problem borrowings.

Most lenders had been expected to post higher earnings in the third quarter of 2011 due to lower provisions and higher income from lending activities, analysts said previously. Al Rajhi didn't say whether it had booked provisions in the third quarter of the year.

Al Rajhi shares closed trading Wednesday 0.4% higher at SAR68.50 in a slightly negative overall market.

-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842373; summer.said@dowjones.com

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

13-10-11 0403GMT