Saudi British Bank (SABB), Saudi Arabia’s fourth-largest listed bank, said on Monday its fourth quarter net profit rose 24.4 percent over the same period of 2011.
The lender said it made SR815m ($217.3m) in the last three months of 2012 compared to SR655m in the last quarter of 2011, it said in a bourse filing, citing an increase in operating income and a decrease in operating expenses for the rise.
Net profit for 2012 was SR3.24bn, up 12.2 percent on 2011’s SR2.89bn.
Nine analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast it would earn a net profit of
SR771.7m.
Fourth quarter profit from special commissions, at SR821m, grew
12.4 percent over the same three months of 2011. Full-year figures were up 8
percent over the previous year.
SABB’s loans portfolio climbed 13.3 percent over the course of 2012 to SR96.1bn at the end of the year.
Customer deposits at the end of 2012 stood at SR120.4bn, up 14.1
percent on the same point of 2011, while total assets increased 13 percent over
the course of 2012 to SR156.7bn.
Saudi banks have enjoyed successive years of expansionary government budgets,
ample liquidity and improving corporate loan demand.
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