Sunday, Oct 16, 2011
(This story was originally published Saturday)
RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi-based Samba Financial Group (1090.SA), the kingdom's second-biggest lender by market value, said Saturday its third-quarter net profit inched up 2.9% from the year-earlier period to 1.14 billion Saudi riyals ($304 million) due to higher income from investments.
Riyadh-based NCB Capital had expected the bank to earn SAR1.13 billion in the three-month period, while analysts at Cairo-based EFG Hermes had projected a net profit of SAR1.08 billion.
Earnings per share for the first nine months of the year fell to SA3.73, from SAR3.93 a year ago, Samba said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website.
Third-quarter operating profit stood at SAR1.71 billion, a 0.9% drop from the year-earlier period, while net special commissions, or net lending income, declined 4.9% to SAR1.05 billion.
Samba's investment portfolio stood at SAR66 billion as of Sept. 30, compared with SAR64.4 billion a year earlier, while total assets edged up 2% to SAR188.6 billion. Loans and advances amounted to SAR88.3 billion, against SAR81.3 billion in the same period last year, while customer deposits rose 2.3% to SAR134.9 billion.
Banks in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, buffeted by financial headwinds following the global credit crunch, had been expected to see higher earnings in the third quarter of 2011 due to lower provisions and higher income from lending activities, analysts said. Samba didn't say whether it booked a provision in the third quarter.
Samba shares finished trading 0.68% higher Saturday at SAR44.60.
-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842373; summer.said@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
16-10-11 0643GMT
