Abu Dhabi: UAE-based bank Mashreq said yesterday its net profit for the first nine months this year surged 28.3 per cent on year to Dh970 million on operating income of Dh2,937 million.
“Loans and advances grew over the last nine months by 7.5 per cent to reach Dh40.5 billion as of September 2012, compared to Dh37.7 billion at the end of 2011,” Mashreq said in a statement.
Commenting on the bank’s financial performance, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Mashreq’s Chief Executive said: “The last two quarters in particular have shown very promising trends which have culminated in a healthy bottom line growth. We are witnessing increasing stability in the UAE and look forward to continuing this positive growth in the coming quarters.”
He added: “We are cautiously optimistic, and will continue to build on the positive performance while ensuring that we follow our long-term strategy of sustainable growth in the coming period.”
The bank’s total assets witnessed a moderate decline of 3.6 per cent in the first nine months of 2012, reaching Dh76.4 billion compared to Dh79.2 billion as of December 31, 2011.
“Mashreq’s provisions for loans and advances continued to decrease and for the first nine months of the year reached Dh533 million which is a decline of 37 per cent as compared to the same period last year, the bank added.
The bank’s capital adequacy in the January-September period increased to 23.05 per cent compared to 22.64 per cent as of December 2011 while its Tier 1 capital ratio stood at a healthy 17 per cent as of September 2012.
The total operating income for Mashreq during the period under review was Dh2.9 billion, representing a 1.6 per cent drop relative to the same period last year. However, on a quarterly basis, the third quarter of 2012 saw operating income increase by 26.5 per cent over Q3 2011 to reach Dh1 billion.
Earnings per share of the Dubai Financial Market-listed Mashreq increased 28 per cent from Dh4.47 in September 2011 to Dh5.74 this year.
