Abu Dhabi:

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), one of the region’s largest banks by assets, said on Tuesday its fiscal third quarter net profit rose 9.1 per cent on year to Dh1.13 billion while the profit for the first nine months this year rose 7.6 per cent year-on-year to Dh3.21 billion.

“We experienced continued growth in the third quarter and are on track to meet our expectations for the full year. Top line growth was solid, and our expenses reflect the continuing investments we are making in our people, technology and new business opportunities. Both our liquidity and capital positions remain strong.” said NBAD Group Chief Executive Michael Tomalin in a statement.

The bank’s third quarter results beat analysts’ expectations.

”The NBAD earnings were ahead of our expectations because of investment gains. We had expected the bank to report a third quarter net profit of Dh995 million. We were expecting investment gains of Dh45 million, they came in at Dh191 milllion,” EFG-Hermes’ banking analyst Shabbir Malik told Gulf News by telephone.

He added: “The bank’s loan growth continues to be sluggish, deposit growth was very strong, driven by government deposits. In terms of credit quality, the NPL ratio was up slightly, but it was still within the management’s guidance. We expect sluggish loan growth to continue, going into the fourth quarter. However, the asset quality is expected to remain relatively stable.”

NBAD’s stock on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange closed on Tuesday unchanged at Dh9.65.

NBAD said operating income increased 7.8 per cent on year to Dh6,351 million in January-September period, adding the operating income of Dh2,251 million for the third quarter was 12.5 per cent higher than the corresponding quarter of 2011.

The bank said operating expenses for the first nine months of 2012 were Dh2,079 million, up 15 per cent on year.

“Operating profits grew 4.6 per cent year to date compared to the corresponding period in 2011 mainly driven by the international and global wealth businesses, which achieved a growth of 27 per cent and 102 per cent year-on-year, respectively. Operating profits in our domestic banking business were almost flat reflecting a tougher domestic market,” it added.

The bank said although gross specific provisions were up Dh358 million, net impairment charges were lower by 4.5 per cent to Dh971 million for the nine months of 2012 on lower collective provisions and strong recoveries. Its non-performing loans increased to Dh5,578 million representing 3.31 per cent of the loan book. “Total provisions represent 96.5 per cent of non-performing loans,” said NBAD.

The bank’s total assets were valued at Dh305 billion as of September 30, NBAD added.

“(NBAD) results were slightly higher than our expectations though variance was driven largely by investment gains booked by the bank during the quarter,” commented Naveed Ahmed, Senior Financial Analyst at Kuwait-based Global Investment House.