Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia’s second-biggest listed bank by sales, said profit in the fourth quarter rose 8 percent, missing analysts’ estimates.
Fourth-quarter net income increased to SR901m ($240.3m) from SR835m a year earlier, the company said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website on Sunday. That fell short of the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg for profit of SR1.02bn.
Samba’s outstanding loans dropped 4.6 percent to SR80.3bn as of December 31, while its customer deposits declined 9.3 percent to SR133.5bn, the company said. Net income from special commissions declined 9.3 percent to SR1.054bn, compared with the year-earlier period, the bank said.
Full-year net income dropped 2.7 percent to SR4.4bn “on lower profit from special commissions as interest rates dropped,” the Riyadh-based bank said in the statement.
Samba will pay a full-year dividend of SR1.65 a share, or SR1.6bn, it said on January 4.
Samba’s shares were unchanged at SR62.50 in Riyadh on Sunday before the earnings were released. The company gained 21 percent last year.
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