Saudi's Arab National Bank 4Q Net Pft +16% as Operating Expenses Drop

Monday, Jan 14, 2013

RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)-- Saudi Arabia's Arab National Bank (1080.SA) said Monday its fourth quarter net profit rose 16% on the year as operating expenses fell.

Net profit in the three months ended Dec. 31 amounted to 425 million Saudi riyals ($113 million), up from SAR368 million in the same period a year earlier, ANB said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website.

The quarterly result was well short of the SAR565 million result that analysts at Audi Saradar Investment Bank had predicted and also missed the SAR497 million effort that NCB Capital had penciled in.

Net profit in the twelve months totaled SAR2.37 billion, a 9.2% increase on the year before period. Earnings per share in the same period amounted to SAR2.79 compared with SAR2.55. By the end of 2012, total assets reached SAR136.6 billion, up from SAR117.6 billion a year ago, representing an increase of 16%.

ANB shares closed trading Monday down 0.4% at SAR27.20.

Write to Iman Dawoud at iman.dawoud@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

14-01-13 1347GMT