KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) reported net profits of KD 227.9 million ($754.5 million) for the first nine months of 2015 compared with KD 203.9 million ($675.0 million) for the same period in 2014, growing 11.8 percent year-on-year.
Net profits for the 3Q 2015 reached KD 64.5 million ($213.6 million), a year-on-year increase of 9.1 percent.
Total assets as of end-September 2015 reached KD 23.8 billion ($78.7 billion) up 9.4 percent compared to September 2014, while total shareholders’ equity increased by 4.2 percent to KD 2.7 billion ($8.9 billion). Customer loans and advances reached KD 13.2 billion ($43.8 billion) as of end-September 2015, growing by 14.2 percent year-on-year, while customer deposits grew by 7.9 percent during the same period to reach KD 11.6 billion ($38.5 billion).
NBK continued to improve its asset quality ratios with NPL/Gross Loans ratio dropping to 1.41 percent as of end-September 2015 down from 1.45 percent a year earlier, and NPL coverage ratio increasing to 301 percent, up from 275 percent in September 2014.
Solid growth
Nasser Al-Sayer, NBK’s Chairman, said “NBK remains on track to deliver solid growth and healthy performance in 2015. Net profits in 9M 2015 reached KD 227.9 million, 11.8 percent year-on-year growth. This is a testimony to NBK’s strong financial position, its market leadership and successful strategy”.
Al-Sayer added that the solid results of the 9M 2015 reflect the Group’s focus on core banking businesses. During the 9M 2015, net operating income grew by 9.0 percent year-on-year to KD 544.1 million ($1,801 million) confirming NBK’s strong domestic and regional market positions. This solid operational performance is mainly attributed to the continued improvement in NBK’s main income drivers where net interest income and fees and commissions income delivered strong year-on-year growth rates reaching 12.5 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.
“The ongoing pickup in spending by the Kuwaiti government on mega projects created growth opportunities for the banking industry generally and for NBK specifically. NBK is very well positioned to continue benefiting from such growth opportunities due to its leadership in trade and project finance and the size of its balance sheet relative to peers, ” Al-Sayer added.
Al-Sayer also highlighted that “the concern that declining oil prices would negatively affect regional economic growth has largely been counterbalanced in Kuwait as the Government validated its intentions to maintain capital spending and to continue investing in infrastructure projects. Additionally, the low debt levels with easy access to debt markets, and the healthy sovereign reserves are comforting buffers for the government if low oil prices are here to last.”
