Saudi banking major posts 19% slump in Q4 net profit

Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia's largest listed lender, widely missed analyst expectations as it posted a 19.1 percent slump in its fourth-quarter net profit.
 

The bank made SR1.55 billion ($413.3 million) in the three months to December 31, compared with SR1.91 billion in the same period a year earlier, it said in a statement to the Saudi bourse on Thursday.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the bank to post a net profit of SR1.99 billion for the fourth quarter.

Profit for full-year 2013 slipped 5.7 percent to SR7.44 billion.

The bank cited higher total operating expenses for the drop in profit, without elaborating further. Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing more detailed results later.

However, it is likely that provisioning makes up for much of the increase in expenses.

On Monday, Banque Saudi Fransi posted a 66.1 percent decline in quarterly profit citing higher costs in a bourse filing. In a latter statement, it said higher specific and general provisioning was behind the fall.

Al Rajhi's quarterly profit drop came despite modest year-on-year increases in operating income, up 3.2 percent, and income from special commissions, 4 percent higher.