Saudi’s Samba Q4 Profit Drops 7.8%

Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest listed bank, posted a 7.8 per cent fall in fourth quarter net profit, missing analyst expectations as its income from special commissions declined.

The lender’s net profit fell to 869 million riyals ($231.7 million) in the last three months of 2012,from 943 million riyals in the last quarter of 2011, it said in a bourse statement Wednesday.

Nine analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast Samba would have net profit of 1.1 billion riyals for the fourth quarter.

The bank attributed the decline in profits to lower income from special commissions, which fell 5.4 per cent to 1 billion riyals, from 1.1 billion riyals for the same quarter in 2011.

Total operating income for the fourth quarter fell 3.6 per cent to 1.45 billion riyals from 1.5 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier.

Samba’s loans and advances portfolio climbed 18 per cent to 105 billion riyals from 89 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier.