Qatar National Bank (QNB) reported an increase in fourth-quarter net profit on Tuesday, benefiting from strong lending growth as Qatar has pushed ahead with spending on the 2022 soccer World Cup and other infrastructure. The largest bank by assets in the Middle East and Africa reported a net profit of 3 billion riyals ($800 million) in the three months to the end of the year, compared with 2.88 billion riyals in the same period in 2017, Reuters calculated.
An average of three analysts forecast QNB would post a net profit of 3.23 billion riyals, Refinitiv data showed. Qatar has largely shrugged off attempts by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to put pressure on its economy after they cut diplomatic and transport ties in 2017.
For 2018 as a whole, QNB's net profit reached 13.8 billion riyals, up by 5 percent from 2017, in line with the 5 to 8 percent forecast given by its former chief executive in April. In November, Ali Ahmed al-Kuwari moved to become Qatar's minister of commerce and industry and Abdulla Mubarak al-Khalifa was named as QNB's acting chief executive. Loans and advances for the year rose by 5 percent to 613 billion riyals, while customer deposits grew by 5 percent to reach 617 billion riyals.
QNB said its board had recommended distributing a cash dividend of 6 riyals per share, the same payout as in 2017. The bank, which has raised more than $7 billion in loans over the past three years, is raising a 2 billion euro syndicated loan, LPC, part of Refinitiv, reported.