Qatar Islamic Bank misses third quarter forecasts as profit drops 12.4 percent

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), the Gulf state's fourth-largest lender by market value, reported a 12.4 percent drop in third-quarter net profit on Sunday, missing analysts' average forecast. The bank made a net profit of 345.1 million riyals ($94.8 million) in the three months to September 30, compared with 393.9 million riyals in the same period a year ago, it said in a bourse statement.
QIB posted a nine-month net profit of 975.1 million riyals, compared with 1.1 billion riyals for the same period last year.
The third-quarter results missed the average forecast of eight analysts in a Reuters poll who had expected the bank to post a quarterly net profit of 360 million riyals.
Lending growth in Qatar has been a key driver of bank profits in recent quarters as the country pours billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, such as electricity, water generation and transportation, partly to prepare to host the 2022 soccer World Cup. While growth in Qatar's total bank credit dipped to a 27-month low in August, credit still increased by 13.6 percent year-on-year, according to central bank data. QIB's total third-quarter income from financing and investing activity dropped to 738.4 million riyals from 773.8 million riyals a year earlier. Fee and commission income fell to 91.4 million riyals from 119.7 million riyals. QIB and Commercial Bank of Qatar have asked Qatar Exchange to increase the number of their shares available to foreign investors to 25 percent of their market capitalisation, Qatar's stock exchange said in June, with the changes due to be implemented in six to nine months.