ENBD posts Dh2.5b profit

DUBAI - Emirates NBD (ENBD), the country’s largest bank in terms of assets, said on Wednesday that its 2011 net profits rose six per cent to Dh2.5 billion despite a 62 per cent fall in fourth-quarter profit as it boosted provisions for bad loans.

The bank posted a net profit of Dh152 million in the last quarter of 2011, compared with Dh403 million in the same 2010 period.

The bank’s earnings per share for the year went up nine per cent to Dh0.41 and net interest income rose seven per cent versus 2010.

The bank said in a statement that its portfolio impairment allowances increased by Dh1.6 billion taking the total allowance to Dh3.8 billion of credit Risk Weighted Assets. Customer loans surged four per cent in Q4 to Dh203.1 billion, compared with the same 2010 period, as deposits dropped to Dh193.3 billion from Dh200 billion at 2010-end.

The bank said its capital adequacy ratio rose to an “extremely healthy level” of 20.5 per cent.

Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates NBD, said the results demonstrated the strength and resilience of the bank.

“We have taken a more conservative approach to strengthen the bank’s position to meet the challenges reflected in the broader global financial markets and Emirates NBD is on course to realise its vision to be the leading and one of the largest and most successful banks in the region,” said Shaikh Ahmed.

The year also witnessed the acquisition of Dubai Bank by Emirates NBD which signals a new phase rich in opportunities for the two banks while reflecting the government’s flexibility in dealing with economic variables, he pointed out.

Rick Pudner, the bank’s CEO, said the bank could achieve such results despite “an extremely challenging and volatile external environment and after adopting a significantly more conservative approach to de-risking the balance sheet.”

Surya Subramanian, Emirates NBD’s chief financial officer, said the bank continued to deliver strong levels of operating profitability during 2011 and has demonstrated both resilience and flexibility in the face of rapidly changing market dynamics.

Naveed Ahmed, senior financial analyst at Global Investment House, said the bank’s bottom line and top line for the full year were in line with expectations. “While we expected a loss of Dh59 million from investment properties, the actual was much higher at Dh288 million.”

Ahmed said Global had estimated loss of Dh204 million from associates, however Dh59.5 million was seen in actual. “Impairments for associates (Union Properties) was largely in line, however a bit lower (eight per cent) than our projections. Both Islamic financing and deposits were up, possibly on consolidation of Dubai Bank while conventional loans and deposits declined further from previous quarter,” he said.

issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com