ABU DHABI: National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s largest lender by market value, posted a 55-percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit, beating analysts’ forecasts, helped by higher investment income and lower impairment charges.
The majority state-owned bank made a net profit of Dh1.12bn ($305.2m) in the fourth quarter compared with Dh724m for the prior-year period, it said in a bourse statement yesterday.
Full-year profit was Dh4.33bn, up 16.8 percent from Dh3.71bn in 2011, NBAD said.
Analysts on average forecast a fourth-quarter profit of Dh876.5m in a Reuters poll earlier this month.
“Our growth was a result of the success of our diversified business model, investment gains driven by favourable financial market conditions and successful hedging strategies,” Michael Tomalin, NBAD’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.
The lender also continued to expand its international presence by opening offices in China and Malaysia, and has set a target of expanding abroad from 14 countries to 41 countries by 2022, he said.
Net impairment charges for the fourth quarter stood at Dh365m, down 24 percent from the prior-year period. Full-year charges reached Dh1.33bn compared with Dh1.49bn in 2011.
Loans and advances stood at Dh164.6bn in 2012, down 3.2 percent compared with 2011, while deposits rose 25.4 percent to Dh190.3bn. Total assets grew 17.6 percent during the year to Dh300.6bn. In November, the bank issued a 15-year 500m Malaysian ringgit ($163m) Islamic bond or sukuk, its third in the south Asian currency.
Reuters
