Qatar Islamic Bank Misses Q3 Forecasts As Profit Drops 12.4%

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), the Gulf state’s fourth-largest lender by market value, reported a 12.4 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit on Sunday, missing analysts’ average forecast.

The bank made a net profit of QAR345.1 million ($94.8 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with QAR393.9 million in the same period a year ago, it said in a bourse statement.

QIB posted a nine-month net profit of QAR975.1 million, compared with QAR1.1 billion for the same period last year.

The third-quarter results missed the average forecast of eight analysts in a Reuters poll who had expected the bank to post a quarterly net profit of QAR360 million.

Lending growth in Qatar has been a key driver of bank profits in recent quarters as the country pours billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, such as electricity, water generation and transportation, partly to prepare to host the 2022 soccer World Cup.

While growth in Qatar’s total bank credit dipped to a 27-month low in August, credit still increased by 13.6 per cent year-on-year, according to central bank data.

QIB’s total third-quarter income from financing and investing activity dropped to QAR738.4 million from QAR773.8 million a year earlier. Fee and commission income fell to QAR91.4 million from QAR119.7 million.

QIB and Commercial Bank of Qatar have asked Qatar Exchange to increase the number of their shares available to foreign investors to 25 per cent of their market capitalisation, Qatar’s stock exchange said in June, with the changes due to be implemented in six to nine months.

QIB shares have fallen 9.7 per cent year-to-date.