ADIB fourth-quarter net profit up 33.4% on fees income, lower impairments

Profits at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, the capital’s biggest Sharia-compliant lender, rose 33.4 per cent increase in the fourth quarter of 2017, beating analysts’ estimates, as fees and commissions income rose and impairments dipped.

The bank's net profit for the three months to the end of December reached Dh607.2 million, up from Dh455.1m in a year-earlier period, the bank said.

Bloomberg had forecast a net income of Dh502.5m, based on estimates from two analysts.

Net revenue from funding fell 4.7 per cent year-on-year to Dh935m from Dh981.3m. Fees and commissions income rose 52.4 per cent to Dh283.3m, while credit provisions and impairments declined 33.8 per cent to Dh166.9m.

Full-year net profit rose 17.7 per cent to Dh2.3 billion from Dh1.95bn.

"Looking ahead, we believe ADIB is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that are expected to arise from the positive economic outlook of the UAE," said Khamis Buharoon, vice chairman and acting chief executive of ADIB. "We are confident that our financial strength and our focus on leveraging innovation and providing a high-quality banking experience will help us attract more customers and deliver long-term shareholder value."

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Economic recovery a boon for GCC banks in 2018 and beyond, says BMI

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UAE lenders have reported a mixed bag of earnings for 2017. Net profit at Dubai Islamic Bank, the emirate’s largest Sharia-compliant lender, rose 20 per cent in 2017, beating analysts' estimates; while Emirates NBD, Dubai's largest lender, said its net profit for 2017 rose 15 per cent.

However, profits at First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE's biggest bank by assets, fell 3.5 per cent in 2017, hurt by lower revenues and merger-related costs.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank recorded a 3 per cent growth in 2017 net income, while Dubai's Mashreq bank, one of the oldest lenders in the UAE, reported a 6.5 per cent increase. Both ADCB and Mashreq's net income came in below analysts’ forecast.

Commercial banks in the Arabian Gulf will benefit from the brighter macroeconomic environment this year and beyond as region’s businesses resume expansion plans, improving the operating environment and boosting credit demand, BMI research said last week.

Slowly rising interest rates and funding by the GCC governments will also support deposit growth, ensuring broader stability for the banking sector, it said.

No Shame

Lily Allen

(Parlophone)

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.