UAE’s largest lender posts 10.7% drop in Q1 net profit
National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the emirate’s largest lender by assets, on Wednesday posted a 10.7 percent fall in first-quarter net profit as revenues dropped and impairment charges for bad loans rose.
NBAD, almost 70 percent owned by an Abu Dhabi state investment fund, made a net profit of 1.27 billion dirhams ($345.8 million) in the three months ending March 31, compared to 1.42 billion dirhams in the year-ago period.
Two analysts polled by Reuters forecast a profit of 1.28 billion dirhams and 1.45 billion dirhams respectively.
Revenues reached 2.65 billion dirhams during the quarter, down from 2.68 billion dirhams during the year-ago period.
Impairment charges reached 295 million dirhams, a 73.3 percent increase on the corresponding period of last year.
Customer loans stood at 199.6 billion dirhams at March 31, 0.3 percent down from 200.2 billion dirhams at the same point of last year.
Customer accounts and other deposits dipped 6.6 percent over the same time period to reach 233.3 billion dirhams as of end-March.
Source: Arabian Business
