KUWAIT CITY: The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) said yesterday that its net profit for the third quarter to September soared 37 percent on the back of a regional expansion policy and diversification of income.
NBK said its net profit for three months to September rose to 108.2m dinars ($386.4m) from 78.9m dinars ($281.8m) in the corresponding period of 2011.
The third quarter performance stands in sharp contrast to the preceding three months to June period which saw the bank’s net profit drop a whopping 39.8 percent to $141.6m. NBK’s nine-month net profit, however, rose slightly by 1.5 percent to 228.9m dinars from 225.6m dinars in the same period last year, said NBK, Kuwait’s largest bank.
The bank’s chief executive officer Ibrahim Dabdoub credited NBK’s focus on “core banking activities and the success of our regional expansion strategy” for driving the third quarter profits. He said the bank’s strategy of “diversification of our income sources too .... continues to help us deliver strong results.”
Dabdoub said the operating environment remains challenging. “NBK managed to deliver another strong quarter notwithstanding the ongoing challenges,” he said, but “the operating environment continues to pose some barriers to our potential for growth.”
He said government spending remained insufficient as seen from a significant lag in floating of tenders for new projects, which in turn has led to a stagnant stock market and dormant economic activity.
NBK Group’s total assets stood at to $58.1bn as on September 30, 2012, up 24.5 percent from its year ago level, while shareholders’ equity hit $8.4bn compared with $8.2bn in the same period.
AFP
