Ahli United Bank (AUB) reported a net profit attributable to its equity shareholders of $442.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, an increase of 5.5 per cent compared to $419.2 million achieved in the same period in 2015.

The net profit achieved for the third quarter of 2016 was $140.9 million, similar to 2015 third quarter reported profit of $140.9 million. The basic earnings per share in YTD Q3/2016 increased to 6.3 cents, from 6.2 cents in YTD Q3/2015, the bank said.

The growth in net profit of AUB was underpinned by the growth in its total assets to $35.8 billion (+5.3 per cent) from $34.0 billion at 2015 year end. Net interest income grew by 2.5 per cent from $604.8 million to $619.7 million. Fees, commissions and other income grew by 4.9 per cent from $123.2 million to $129.3 million. As a result, net operating income increased by 5.2 per cent to reach $763.7 million. With the continued application of our “intelligent spend” policy, operating expenses were contained at $235.1 million (+2.4 per cent) resulting in a cost to income ratio of 28.3 per cent (YTD Q3 / 2015: 27.5 per cent).

Asset quality parameters continued to be healthy with a non-performing loans ratio of 2.1 per cent backed by a conservative total provision coverage ratio of 173.2 per cent, inclusive of collective impairment provisions. With collaterals, the coverage ratio increased to 287.8 per cent, the banks said.  
 
The group’s return on average equity (ROAE) for YTD Q3/2016 increased to 17 per cent, based on improved operating results as compared to 16.7 per cent achieved in the prior period. Return on average assets was higher at 1.9 per cent for YTD Q3/2016 (YTD Q3/2015: 1.8 per cent).

Hamad Al-Humaidhi, AUB chairman, commented: “Despite tighter fiscal policy and weaker private sector activity resulting in lower liquidity in the banking system and moderate regional economic growth, AUB sustained its positive core performance trend in the first nine months of 2016. AUB’s growth is a testament to AUB’s well-managed business model based on diversification and cross border flows and of the success of its selective growth initiatives to increase profitability and mitigate risk challenges in its target markets.” - TradeArabia News Service