Dubai bank Emirates NBD posts 16% rise in Q3 profit

Emirates NBD (ENBD), Dubai’s largest lender, posted a 16 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit on Tuesday as net interest income jumped and impairments for bad loans eased.

The bank made a net profit of Dhs2.64bn ($718.8m) in the three months to Sept. 30, a statement from the bank said, compared to Dhs2.28bn in the corresponding period of 2017.

The results were broadly in line with the average forecast of three analysts polled by Reuters of a net profit of Dhs2.57bn.

The bank, 55.6 per cent owned by state fund Investment Corp., is the latest United Arab Emirates-based bank to report positive profit growth during the quarter and follows First Abu Dhabi Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank also reporting double-digit profit rises.

Net interest income increased 18 per cent from the same quarter of last year, while net interest margins also improved to 2.9 per cent, which the bank attributed to rate rises feeding through to the loan portfolio. That helped overcome the impact of a 1 per cent drop in non-interest income and a 15 per cent rise in costs over the same period.

Reflecting an improved outlook for Dubai’s economy, provisions for bad loans fell 18 per cent to Dhs353m during the quarter.

The bank, which raised a $2bn three-year loan late last month, said in August it was closely monitoring the situation in Turkey after a plunge in the lira since it acquired Turkey’s Denizbank from Russia’s state-owned Sberbank in a $3.2bn deal announced in May.

Arqaam Capital has said it expects the acquisition price to be revised down sharply and for the deal to close in the fourth quarter.

Emirates NBD’s loans and advances stood at Dhs324.7bn at the end of September, up 7 per cent since the end of last year. Deposits increased 4 per cent over the same period to Dhs341.2bn.