(The Group’s Comments) Commercial Bank's Net Profit Rises 11% to QAR 1.50 Billion in Q3 2019

Ø  Profits: increased by 19.4% to QAR 1503.96 million for the period ended 30 September 2019, compared to QAR 1259.62 million for the same period in 2018, while the company’s earnings per share reached QAR 0.37, versus QAR 0.31 for the corresponding period. As for the third quarter, the bank posted a profit of about QAR 569.9 million, compared to QAR 404.6 million for the corresponding period of 2018. The following items contributed to the improvement of the bank's profit:

                        1.      Increase in net interest income by QAR 30 million.

                        2.      Increase in net commission and fee income by QAR 52.6 million.

                        3.      Increase in foreign currency profits by QAR 61.7 million.

                        4.      Improved profits of financial investments by QAR 59.0 million.

                        5.      Decrease in impairment losses of customers loans and advances by about QAR 31 million.

                        6.      Other expenses decreased by QAR 77.0 million.

Ø  Comprehensive Income: The bank recorded an assessment profit of QAR 540.4 million compared to a loss of QAR 594.2 for the same period in 2018.

Ø  Operating Income: improved by 7.10% to reach QAR 2,853.0 million, compared to QAR 2,663.4 million for the same period in 2018, an increase of QAR 189.6 million.

Ø  Operating Expenses: decreased by 4.86% to QAR 1448.9 million compared to QAR 1522.9 million for the corresponding period of 2018 due to the drop in other expenses by QAR 77 million, as well as staff costs by QAR 11.15 million, and a decrease in customer loans and advances by QAR 31 million.

Regarding asset quality, non-performing loans amounted to 4.9% of the total loan portfolio compared to 5.6% at the end of 2018.

Ø  Assets: Loans and advances decreased by 3.8% compared to the same period in 2018 as a result of the increase in deposits by 1.35%.The ratio of loans to customer deposits is about 119.92%, while the return on equity for this period amounted to 8.58%, versus 8.02% for the corresponding period of 2018. The book value of the bank stood at QAR 4.33 per share.