JEDDAH: Saudi Hollandi Bank (SHB) posted a 10.8 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit.

The lender, partly-owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, said in a bourse filing on Wednesday it made SR347.3 million ($92.6 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, compared with SR313.4 million in the corresponding quarter of 2012. Six analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast it would post, on average, a net profit of SR375 million.

The bank's net profit for the quarter was boosted by a 22 percent jump in total operating income to SR671.1 million, while profit from special commissions grew 23.8 percent year-on-year to SR427.1 million.

Its full-year net profit was SR1.5 billion, a 19.8 percent increase on 2012, which it attributed to higher operating income. That rose 17.9 percent in 2013 to SR2.62 billion.

Saudi Hollandi's loans portfolio stood at SR53.7 billion on Dec. 31, 18.5 percent higher than the same point of 2012.

Many lenders have been raising capital in recent months to strengthen their reserves, with Saudi Hollandi completing a SR2.5 billion capital-boosting Islamic bond issue in December.

The sukuk led NCB Capital to upgrade the stock to overweight on Dec. 25 as a sign of strong future loan growth offsetting the risk to net interest margins from higher cost of funding.

Its deposit base gained 14.8 percent year-on-year to SR61.9 billion at the end of 2013.

Saudi Hollandi's board recommended a 2013 cash dividend of SR1 per share last month, in line with the previous year.