RIYADH, 10 April — The Saudi British Bank recorded a net profit of SR235 million ($62.7 million) for the quarter ended March 31, up 20.1 percent over the same period last year. This was disclosed in the quarterly results of the bank released here yesterday. The operating income (excluding returns on investments) of SR428.1 million increased by 8.1 percent compared to the quarter ended March 31 last year. Earnings per share went up to SR5.87 against SR4.89 for the first quarter of 2001.
Customer deposits surged by 6.3 percent to reach SR32.1 billion on March 31 this year. Loans and advances to customers, at SR17.3 billion, were 6.1 percent higher, David Hodgkinson, SABB’s managing director, said, adding: “We are proud that the Consulting Center for Finance and Investment named us the best performing bank in the field of mutual funds based on their market survey. In the survey, we achieved the highest number of top rankings for various categories of mutual funds offered by Saudi banks.”
Meanwhile, Riyad Bank yesterday announced a 11.6 percent rise in net profits in the first quarter of 2002 over the same period last year. Profits rose to SR365 million ($97.3 million) on March 31 compared to SR327 million ($87.2 million) in the corresponding period in 2001, the bank said.
Chairman Rashed Al-Rashed attributed the rise to an increase in operations revenue on the back of improving oil prices and stock market performances. First-quarter deposits at the bank, which has assets of around $17 billion, rose 5.1 percent to SR40.8 billion ($10.9 billion) from SR38.8 billion ($10.3 billion) last year.
