National Commercial Bank (NCB), Saudi Arabia's biggest lender by assets, reported a 24 per cent rise in its third quarter net profit as net commission income climbed and operating expenses including impairments for bad loans dropped.
Net profit for the three months ending September 30 rose to 3.16 billion riyals ($843 million), the lender said in a statement to the Tadawul stock exchange, where its shares trade. The profit figure beat analysts' expectations.
Net income from special commissions and financing and investments rose 6 per cent 4.1bn riyals, while net impairment charges for expected credit losses dropped 43 per cent year-on-year to 379m riyals.
Total operating expenses dropped 9.8 per cent, mainly due to lower rent and premises-related expenses, the lender said on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, NCB agreed to merge with its smaller rival Samba Financial Group in a deal that will create the Arab world’s third-biggest banking entity with assets worth $223bn. All Samba assets and liabilities will also be transferred to NCB as part of the deal.
The new lender will have its headquarters in Riyadh, with Ammar Alkhudairy tipped to become chairman and Saeed Al-Ghamdi managing director and group chief executive.
“This merger process marks the start of a new era for Saudi banking,” Mr Alkhudairy, Samba Financial Group's current chairman, said in an October 11 statement.
“We are focused on making sure that the combined and larger bank comes together seamlessly to serve our customers, partners, investors and talent across both teams.”
NCB's nine month profit rose about 1 per cent to 8.08bn riyals. Total operating income increased 4.7 per cent mainly due to the increase in net special commission income, fees from banking services and foreign exchange income and higher investment-related income, the lender said.
Assets at the end of the nine-month period climbed 16 per cent year-on-year to 577bn riyals while investments rose 9 per cent to 144bn riyals. Customer deposits during the period jumped 20 per cent to 408.4bn riyals.
"The earnings beat was largely driven by core drivers, as loan growth was strong, spreads widened and provisioning was lower than expected," analysts from investment bank EFG Hermes said in a note.
The lower provisioning was the main surprise, with the cost of risk more than halving compared to the previous quarter to 45 basis points.
"While it could be driven by provision reversal, the trend highlights management’s growing optimism on credit quality prospects," EFG Hermes said.
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Story of 2017-18 so far and schedule to come
Roll of Honour
Who has won what so far in the West Asia rugby season?
Western Clubs Champions League
Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Runners up: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Jebel Ali Dragons
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Jebel Ali Dragons
Runners up: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Premiership Cup
Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Runners up: Dubai Exiles
Fixtures
Friday
West Asia Cup final
5pm, Bahrain (6pm UAE time), Bahrain v Dubai Exiles
West Asia Trophy final
3pm, The Sevens, Dubai Hurricanes v Dubai Sports City Eagles
Friday, April 13
UAE Premiership final
5pm, Al Ain, Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
The biog
Born November 11, 1948
Education: BA, English Language and Literature, Cairo University
Family: Four brothers, seven sisters, two daughters, 42 and 39, two sons, 43 and 35, and 15 grandchildren
Hobbies: Reading and traveling
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
Final: UAE beat Qatar by nine wickets
Third-place play-off: Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by five runs
Table
1 UAE 5 5 0 10
2 Qatar 5 4 1 8
3 Saudi 5 3 2 6
4 Kuwait 5 2 3 4
5 Bahrain 5 1 4 2
6 Maldives 5 0 5 0
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 3
Gayle (23'), Perez (59', 63')
Chelsea 0
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The specs
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The biog
Age: 46
Number of Children: Four
Hobby: Reading history books
Loves: Sports
The specs: 2018 Maxus T60
Price, base / as tested: Dh48,000
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder
Power: 136hp @ 1,600rpm
Torque: 360Nm @ 1,600 rpm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.1L / 100km
The specs: 2018 Jaguar E-Pace First Edition
Price, base / as tested: Dh186,480 / Dh252,735
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 246hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 365Nm @ 1,200rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.7L / 100km
Brief scores:
Scotland 371-5, 50 overs (C MacLeod 140 no, K Coetzer 58, G Munsey 55)
England 365 all out, 48.5 overs (J Bairstow 105, A Hales 52; M Watt 3-55)
Result: Scotland won by six runs
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Date founded: 04 November 2017
Founders: Abdulaziz AlBlooshi and Harsh Hirani
Based: Dubai, UAE
Number of employees: 10
Sector: AI, software
Cashflow: Dh2.5 Million
Funding stage: Series A
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v tba
Specs
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Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
