Qatar Commercial posts record Q2 on loans, expansion

INTERNATIONAL PLAYER: In recent years, Commercial Bank of Qatar has made regional acquisitions and sponsored the Qatar Masters (pictured). (Getty Images)

Commercial Bank of Qatar posted a record profit in the second quarter as it lent more during an economic boom in the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas and expanded abroad.

Commercial Bank, Qatar's third-largest bank by market value, posted a 57.1 percent surge in profit to 563.6 million riyals ($154.8 million) in the three months to June 30, compared with 358.65 million riyals a year earlier, it said in a statement on Sunday.

That was the lender's third record quarterly profit in a year.

"The increased scale of economic activity in Qatar and our diversification strategy have enabled strong economic growth in all our core businesses," Commercial Bank Chairman Adullah bin Khalifa Al-Attiyah said in the statement. Qatar's $71 billion economy surged 25 percent last year at current prices.

The quarterly earnings came at the top end of analysts' forecasts in a net profit survey last month by newswire Reuters, ranging from 513.60 million riyals to 574.70 million riyals.

Commercial Bank made profit of 1.04 billion riyals in the six months ended June 30, it said in a statement, without giving quarterly data, which Reuters calculated from previous financial statements. The bank, which did not immediately release net interest income, said loans and advances grew 36 percent in the first half to 29.8 billion riyals.

Gulf Arab banks have boosted their lending businesses in the world's top oil-exporting region, buoyed by a more than six-fold rise in oil prices in the last six years.

They have also been expanding outside of their home markets through acquisitions as they face greater domestic competition. Commercial Bank said earlier this year it planned to continue regional acquisitions.

Commercial Bank said foreign operations had contributed about 10 percent of operating income in the first half of the year. It bank owns almost 35 percent of National Bank of Oman and in February raised its stake in United Arab Emirates-based United Arab Bank to 38.2 percent.

"Our investments in these banks, which are carried at book value, have grown in market value," Group Chief Executive Andrew Stevens said. "In the case of NBO, the appreciation is 119 percent above the initial acquisition cost," Al-Attiyah said. (Reuters)

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