JEDDAH: Samba Financial Group has reported a 7 percent rise in third-quarter net profit.

The bank made a profit of SR1.37 billion ($365.38 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, up from SR1.28 billion in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.

Five analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast the bank would make a quarterly net profit of SR1.25 billion.

Total operating income for the quarter rose 7.6 percent to SR1.99 billion and profit from special commissions grew 0.8 percent to SR1.18 billion.

Samba’s loans portfolio stood at 127.1 billion riyals at the end of September, 5.8 percent higher than the same point of 2014, according to the statement.

Its deposit base increased 6.8 percent year-on-year to SR174.6 billion.