Dubai Islamic Bank Q1 Net Profit Rises 34%, Beats Estimates

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the United Arab Emirates’ largest sharia-compliant lender, reported a 33.9 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit on Wednesday, as income from Islamic financing and investment rose and bad loan losses eased.

Beating analysts’ forecasts, the bank made a net profit attributable to shareholders of Dhs816.7 million ($222.4 million) in the three months to March 31, it said in a statement, up from Dhs610.1 million in the corresponding period of 2014.

The results beat two analysts’ estimates. EFG Hermes forecast Dubai Islamic Bank would make a quarterly net profit of Dhs751.21 million, while HSBC forecast this would be Dhs677 million.

Income from Islamic financing and investing transactions grew by 24.2 per cent from the year earlier period, while commissions, fees and foreign exchange income grew by 18.8 per cent over the same period.

The bank has also benefited in recent quarters from a drop in impairment charges, reflecting strength in the domestic economy.

That trend continued in the first quarter as impairment losses narrowed to Dhs136 million, down by 30 per cent from the same period of last year.