Doha Bank, Qatar’s fifth-largest lender by assets, reported a 84.8 per cent decline in fourth-quarter net profit on Sunday, according to Reuters calculations.
The bank earned a net profit of 35 million Qatari riyals in the three months to December 31 against 231.4m riyals in the same period of the previous year, Reuters calculations showed, using financial statements in lieu of a quarterly earnings breakdown.
The bank posted annual 2016 net profit of 1.05 billion riyals, lower than the 1.37bn riyals it reported in 2015, according to its statement.
The bank did not provide reasons for the decline.
Lenders across the Gulf are struggling against the fallout from a prolonged dip in energy prices, which has hurt lending growth and tightened liquidity.
The bank said on November 17 it would recommend to shareholders to raise the capital of the bank by 20 per cent during the first half of 2017 by issuing new shares to shareholders. Several other Gulf banks have taken similar steps to boost capital in recent months as economic growth slows and they look to prepare for looming global regulations requiring banks to beef up their reserves.
The bank’s statement added its board was recommending a cash dividend of 3 riyals per share for 2016, the same for 2015.
Doha Bank picked banks for a conventional bond issue, banking sources told Reuters on November 16.
* Reuters
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