Bank of Sharjah said its first-quarter net profit fell 29 per cent because of a drop in the market value of its investments.
The decline in profitability came even as money set aside to cover back debt shrunk.
Net profit for the first three months of the year slipped to Dh55.5 million compared to Dh78.7m in the same period the previous year, the bank said. Net impairment loss on financial assets declined to Dh9m in the quarter from Dh23m a year earlier.
Net interest income declined 7 per cent to Dh117m in the first three months of the year compared to Dh126m in the corresponding period last year. Net fee and commission income dipped almost six per cent to Dh28.8m from Dh30.5m. Ahmed Al Noman, the bank’s chairman, said that profitability was affected by a Dh21m downturn in the market value of strategic investments which he said was expected to recover during 2017.
Bank of Sharjah joins a number of other UAE banks in the first quarter that have experienced a drop in impairments, a trend analysts say is sign that lenders may be out of the rough patch they hit after the price of oil crashed in 2014.
mkassem@thenational.ae
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