Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 08:35, Reuters, Riyadh
Samba's assets at the end of the period were 192.8bn riyals, compared with 187.4bn riyals at the end of 2010. (SUPPLIED)
Samba Financial, Saudi Arabia's second largest bank by market value, said fourth-quarter net profit rose 4.9 per cent, helped by a fall in operating expenses and a rise in income from operations.
Profit of 944 million riyals ($252 million) in the three months to December missed analysts' forecasts of 1.12 billion.
"Government spending on infrastructure is filtering through to the banks now in the form of credit growth," said Murad Ansari, Saudi banks equities analyst at EFG Hermes in Riyadh.
"On the revenue side, spreads were much higher than what we were expecting. There were more positives to the results than negatives."
The result marked a fall of 16.8 per cent from its 1.14bn riyals income in the third quarter, Samba said in a statement it posted on the website of the Saudi bourse.
Total operating profit for the period edged down by 2.9 per cent to 1.51bn riyals on the year.
Profits from special commissions also fell, to 4.38bn riyals from 4.54bn riyals the previous year.
Loans and advances at the end of the quarter stood at 89.1bn riyals, versus 80.3bn riyals a year earlier, it said.
Samba's assets at the end of the period were 192.8bn riyals, compared with 187.4bn riyals at the end of 2010.
Your comments