Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank reported on Tuesday a 53 percent rise in the three months to June 30 earnings, the second-biggest quarterly profit, and said it was optimistic about full year income.
Net profit for the second-quarter rose to 276 million dirhams ($75.14 million) and beat one out of two analysts' forecasts, which were 245.75 million dirhams and 302.70 million dirhams in a survey last month.
"It was driven by better performance across the board in all activities," Chief Executive Tirad Mahmoud told newswire Reuters, declining to give further details. "We are quite optimistic for the balance of the year."
The bank, which has 44 branches in the UAE, and operates in Egypt, plans to open four more branches in the UAE before the end of the year and is looking to expand in the Middle East region through new outlets as well as acquisitions, he said.
The bank has applied for a license to operate in Algeria and expects to hear back from the Algerian central bank within a year, Khamis Buharoom, the bank's managing director said in May.
The bank was also considering potential business in Libya, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Buharoon had said.
The Islamic lender's operating profit was 1.5 billion dirhams in the first half of this year, 85 percent of which came from core banking operations, it said in a statement.
Earnings per share for the first six months of the year rose 15 percent to 0.264 dirhams.
Customer deposits climbed 20 percent to 33.7 billion dirhams on June 30 and Islamic financing grew 13 percent to 39.8 billion dirhams in the same period, it said.
Abu Dhabi Islamic made 180.05 million dirhams in the second-quarter of 2007.
The bank's shares are down more than 3 percent this year, underperforming Abu Dhabi's main index which has risen more than 8 percent. The stock eased 0.16 percent on Tuesday. (Reuters)
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