JEDDAH, 8 April 2006 — The National Commercial Bank (NCB) has achieved a SR1.85 billion net income in the first quarter of 2006. “This marks an increase of SR635 million, or 52.2 percent over the same period in 2005,” NCB Chairman Abdullah Bahamdan said in an announcement. Elaborating the financial results, he said the total operating income grew to SR2.62 billion during Q1 compared to SR1.69 billion during the corresponding period in 2005, an increase of 55.3 percent. This increase has been achieved as a result of a strong increase in net fee from banking services of 195 percent where it increased from SR232 million during Q1 2005 to SR685 million in Q1 2006, in addition to increase in net special commission income, income from FVIS financial instruments and investment disposal gain. The NCB maintained its leadership position among Saudi banking in term of balance sheet volume. Total assets grew by 8.8 percent to SR143.86 billion.
Net loans and advances increased to SR73.87 billion and customer deposits totaled SR100.56 billion. The bank’s total shareholders’ equity grew by 42.8 percent to SR21.65 billion at the end of the Q1 2006, thus reinforcing its strong capital adequacy ratio and supported by maintaining continuous improvement in profitability. The bank continued to maintain its high profitability ratios as return on average assets (ROA) increased to 5.1 percent, the return on average equity (ROE) was 34.2 percent, while earnings per share (EPS) improved from SR6.8 in Q1 2005 to SR10.3 in Q1 2006.
The general assembly of shareholders at its extraordinary meeting held on March 25 approved an increase of the paid in capital from SR6 billion to SR9 billion by capitalizing SR3 billion from general reserve to paid in capital through issuance of one bonus share for every two shares. “The foundation of these excellent results is the strong level of trust that NCB has earned from its loyal customers, and the quality and variety of the bank’s products and services, in addition to the hard work and improved performance of the management and staff of the bank,” Bahamdan said and expressed his deep gratitude to the bank’s clients, shareholders and staff for their continued support.
