Saudi’s Al Rajhi Bank registers Q2 net profit gains 5.7 pc

REUTERS

Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest lender by assets, reported a 5.7 percent rise in its second-quarter net profit on Monday, broadly in line with analyst forecasts. The bank made 2.05 billion riyals ($546.7 million) in the three months to June 30, up from 1.94 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.
Five analysts surveyed by Reuters had on average forecast the bank’s quarterly profit would be 2.07 billion riyals. The bank attributed the profit gain to a 10.3 percent year-on-year increase in net operating income to 3.9 billion riyals, which in turn was boosted by more income from financing and fee income from banking services. This helped to offset a 16 percent jump in total operating expenses, which rose because of higher salaries expenses and impairment charges.