National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the largest lender by market value in the UAE, has posted fourth-quarter profit that fell marginally from a year earlier, in line with analysts' estimates.

NBAD, majority-owned by the Abu Dhabi government, said on Tuesday that net profit for the quarter was Dh1.08 billion ($294 million), slightly lower than Dh1.12 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Six analysts polled by Reuters had forecast quarterly net profit of Dh1.10 billion.

Full-year net profit rose nine percent to Dh4.73 billion, NBAD said, adding that it was recommending a cash dividend of Dh0.4 per share for investors.

Alex Thursby, group chief executive, said: “Our results in 2013 were solid, and we are beginning to see momentum increase as we execute against our five-year strategic plan.  We have laid out a new mission to be ‘core to our chosen customers’, and we are now focused on capitalising on our unique positioning at the heart of the ‘West-East Corridor’."

"The restructuring of our organisation has commenced and we are investing in our new strategy and building the operational ‘spine’ of the bank.  Our focus is on building new drivers of non-interest income and our results are beginning to show strong improvements in underlying revenue performance," he said.

"As a result of the reorganisation and investments in building the spine, there were some planned 1-time expenses in the fourth quarter which will not repeat.  Going forward, our strategy is to grow our wholesale, wealth and retail and commercial businesses with concurrent growth in Casa as we expect continued margin pressure,” Thursby added. - Reuters and TradeArabia News Service