DUBAI: Mashreq, Dubai’s second-biggest bank by stock market value, yesterday posted an 86 percent year-on-year jump in net profit for the third quarter of this year, citing a decline in bad loan provisions.
Net profit climbed to Dh379m ($103m) in the quarter from 204 million dirhams a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on the bank’s nine-month earnings statement.
For the first nine months of the year, profit rose 28 percent to 970 million dirhams, Mashreq said.
“The last two quarters in particular have shown very promising trends which have culminated in healthy bottom line growth,” Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Mashreq’s chief executive, said in the statement.
“We are witnessing increasing stability in the UAE and look forward to continuing this positive growth in the coming quarters.”
A forecast by analysts at Arqaam Capital had put third-quarter net profit at Dh242m.
Mashreq’s provisions for bad loans fell 37 per cent from a year earlier to Dh533m in the first nine months.
Lending throughout the United Arab Emirates banking sector was flat at the end of August compared to the end of the second quarter, according to central bank figures. It has grown 1.8 percent since the beginning of the year.
Reuters
