Qatar’s CBQ Posts 32.9% Q4 Profit Drop

Commercial Bank of Qatar, the Gulf Arab state’s second-largest lender by assets, reported a drop in fourth-quarter net profit on Monday, missing analysts’ forecasts as provisioning for bad loans rose substantially.

The bank made a net profit of 300 million riyals ($82.4 million) for the final three months of the year, a drop of 32.9 per cent compared with 447.3 million riyals a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Five analysts polled by Reuters had, on average, expected a 5.6 per cent decline in quarterly profit to 422.3 million riyals.

Provisioning in the quarter more than doubled to 346 million riyals from 136 million riyals, according to Reuters calculations based on the bank’s financial statements.

Full-year profit for 2013 fell 20.2 per cent to 1.61 billion riyals.

The board of directors at the bank have recommended a cash dividend of 3.1 riyals per share and a five per cent bonus share issue for 2013, the statement said. This is down from the six riyals paid for 2012.