Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia-based Samba Financial Group on Wednesday reported a 6.01% year-on-year hike in its net profits for the first quarter of 2018, compared to the year-ago period.
The Saudi lender logged a profit of SAR 1.3 billion in the three-month period ended March 2018, up from SAR 1.23 billion in Q1-17, according to a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).
Saudi's third-largest bank by assets attributed the increase in its first-quarter profits to a 15.3% decline in total operating expenses due to a drop in credit costs, a decrease in salaries expenses, as well as rent and premises related expenses and depreciation.
Meanwhile, total shareholders’ equity (excluding minority rights) stood at SAR 43,467 million in Q1-18, versus SAR 43,360 million in the comparative period of 2017, the statement added.
Samba’s gross special commission income levelled up 1.7% to SAR 1.73 billion in Q1-18, compared to SAR 1.70 billion in the same quarter of the year before.
Quarter-on-quarter, the lender's profits went up 7.5% compared to Q4-17.
By 10:00 am, Samba’s stock fell 0.64% to SAR 28.10.
