Saudi Arabia's eight-largest listed lender beats forecasts on higher operating income
Saudi Hollandi Bank, Saudi Arabia's eighth-largest listed bank, said on Tuesday
its second-quarter net profit rose 12.8 percent on the back of higher operating
income, beating analysts' forecasts.
The lender made a net profit of SR374.8m ($99.9m) in the
three months to June 30, compared with SR332.3m in the corresponding
quarter of 2012, it said in a bourse filing.
Five analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the bank would post, on
average, a net profit of SR346.4m for the quarter.
The profit jump was boosted by a 25 percent year-on-year hike in
second-quarter operating income, which was recorded as SR693.7m this
year.
Meanwhile, profit from special commissions in the second quarter grew 19.8
percent over the same three months of 2012 to SR411.8m
Net profit for the first six months of 2013 was SR721m, up 15.8
percent on the same period of last year, it said in the statement.
Saudi Hollandi's loans portfolio stood at SR52bn at the end of
June, 24.1 percent higher than the same point of 2012.
Due to its robust loan growth from lending to small and medium-sized
enterprises, Saudi Hollandi's loan book should grow significantly in 2013,
Global Investment House said in a June 17 note.
Its deposit base gained 23.4 percent to SR61.3bn at the end of
June 2013.
