Saudi’s Riyad Bank Q1 Net Profit Up 13.5%

Riyad Bank, Saudi Arabia’s third-largest lender by assets, posted a 13.5 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit on Sunday, broadly in line with analysts’ estimates.

The bank made 1.08 billion riyals ($288 million) in the three months ending March 31, compared with 951 million riyals in the same period of 2013, it said in a stock market statement.

It cited an increase in total operating income – which climbed 12 per cent year-on-year to 1.93 billion riyals – for the profit rise without elaborating.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the bank to post a net profit of 1.03 billion riyals for the first quarter.