Saudi British Bank (SABB), an affiliate of HSBC Holdings, swung to a net profit of 919 million riyals ($245 million) in the second quarter of 2021, compared to a net loss of 6.86 billion in the year-earlier period due to lower provision for expected credit losses and a fall in total operating expenses.

The result beats a profit estimate of 770 million riyals penciled in by Riyad Capital.

The rise in net income was mainly due to the lower provision for expected credit losses and lower total operating expenses. “This was partially offset by a decrease in total operating income mainly contributed by lower net special commission income by 19 percent,” the lender said in a statement on Tadawul website.

Provision for expected credit losses for the quarter was 26 million riyals compared with 1,309 million riyals in the same period of last year.

For the first half, the net profit for the bank came in at 1.889 billion riyals versus a year-on-year net loss of 5.896 billion riyals.

On a sequential basis, SABB’s net profit declined 5.3% on the back of lower total operating income, decline in earnings from associates and higher provision for expected credit losses.

Earlier this week the lender had proposed a cash dividend distribution of 0.50 riyals per share for the H1-21.

In March this year, SABB completed its merger with Alawwal Bank.

On Tadawul, SABB was trading down 0.63 percent at 31.55 riyals shortly after open Wednesday.

(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)

brinda.darasha@refinitiv.com

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