Wednesday, Apr 11, 2012
(This story was originally published Tuesday.)
--Saudi Al Rajhi Bank First-quarter net profit up 18% To SAR2.01 billion
--Net profit up on higher operation income
--Al Rajhi doesn't say whether provisions were booked in first quarter
By Summer Said
Of ZAWYA DOW JONES
RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia's Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SA), the Arab Gulf region's biggest lender by market value, said Tuesday its first-quarter net profit rose 18% on year to 2.01 billion Saudi riyals ($536.3 million) on higher operational income and an improved volume of investments.
Analysts at Cairo-based EFG-Hermes had expected the bank to post a net profit of SAR1.99 billion in the three-month period ending March 31, while those at Riyadh-based NCB Capital had penciled in SAR2.2 billion.
Earnings per share for the period advanced to SAR1.34 from SAR1.13, the bank said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website.
Total operating profit for the first quarter stood at SAR3.43 billion, compared with SAR2.94 billion, while profit from finance and investments edged up 4.3% to SAR2.3 billion.
Total assets as of March 31 reached SAR234 billion, up from SAR203 billion a year earlier, while the volume of investments surged 22% to SAR39 billion. Customer deposits also rose 16% to SAR186 billion from a year ago.
Profits at most Saudi banks have come under pressure since 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 slowly recover in 2010 year after the lenders set aside enough provisions to cover the bulk of problem borrowings.
Al Rajhi Bank didn't say whether it had booked provisions in the first quarter of the year.
The company's earnings results were announced after the markets closed Tuesday. Its shares ended down 2.2% at SAR76.25 in a broadly negative overall market.
-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842373; summer.said@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
Summer Said Saudi Arabia, Gulf OPEC Correspondent Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal Phone: +9661-279-5253 Fax: +966-1-279-5101 Mobile: +966-546-842-373 Regus World Trade Centre, Bahrain Tower, 2nd Floor, King Fahad Road PO Box 8953, Riyadh, 12214-2393 Summer.Said@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-04-12 0400GMT
