Emirates NBD (ENBD), Dubai's largest lender, posted an 8 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Tuesday, aided by smaller provisions for bad loans. The first major lender in the United Arab Emirates to announce its earnings said it made a net profit of 1.81 billion dirhams ($492.8 million) in the three months to March 31, a statement from the bank said, compared to 1.67 billion dirhams in the corresponding period of 2015.
Analysts at EFG Hermes and SICO Bahrain had forecast the bank would make a net profit for the quarter of 1.87 billion dirhams and 1.93 billion dirhams respectively.
The bank, 55.6 percent owned by state fund Investment Corp of Dubai, has benefited from an improvement in the performance of its assets in recent quarters as Dubai government-linked companies have made progress in resolving debt troubles which hamstrung the emirate at the turn of the decade.
The amount of cash set aside for bad loans was 829 million dirhams in the first quarter, down from 1.1 billion dirhams in the same period of 2015.
A 3 percent increase in net interest income to 2.56 billion dirhams was also a positive for the bank and helped to offset a 16 percent jump in operating expenses, which ENBD said was due to higher staffing costs linked with increase business volumes.
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