Kuwait Finance House's (KFH) net income jumped 12 per cent year-on-year for the first nine-months of 2017 as the cost of operations fell for the Sharia-compliant lender.
Net profit for the nine months ending September 30 reached 137.9 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh1.67 billion), which compares with 123.1m dinars reported at the end of the same period in 2016. Total operating expenses for the bank, the first Islamic financial institution to be established in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf state, fell 3.5 per cent, it said in a regulatory filing to Borsa Kuwait, where its shares are traded.
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Income from continued operations improved by 9.1 per cent to 525m dinars for the nine-month period, from 481.3m dinars a year earlier. Provisions and impairments, however, also climbed by 20 per cent, the bank said without giving further details.
The lender said net assets over the nine months rose 4.6 per cent to 17.4bn dinars, up from 16.6bn dinars in the same period last year.
The Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes said KFH's third-quarter 2017 income of 56.3m dinars - a 30 per cent quarter-on-quarter rise and an 8 per cent year-on-year advance - was broadly in line with its 55.9m dinars estimate. The third quarter tends to be the strongest period for KFH in terms of revenues and earnings, EFG said in a note to investors on Monday.