Kuwaiti telecommunications operator Zain reported a 14% fall in its second-quarter net profit yesterday to 61mn dinars ($214mn), mainly because of a currency loss in Sudan, according to Reuters calculations based on its first-half earnings statement.

Zain said it made a first-half net profit of 113mn dinars. The company had reported a first-quarter profit of 52mn dinars.

Consolidated revenues totalled 612mn dinars in the first half.

Zain said it added 3mn new customers over the past 12 months, raising its customer base to 44.4mn. Customers increased 11% in Kuwait to 2.4mn, by 12% in Saudi Arabia to 8.3mn, and by 8% in Iraq to 13.9mn.

Currency movements, mainly depreciation of Sudan’s currency, cost Zain $347mn in revenues and $80mn in net profit during the first half, it said.

However, a new telecommunications law removing corporate income tax for three years was introduced in Sudan last month, which will help Zain’s financial position in the country, it added.

Also last month, Saudi Arabia’s government agreed to postpone payment of Zain’s obligations to it for seven years. The deferred payments are estimated to add up to $213mn per year, the company said.

 

UNB

Abu Dhabi’s Union National Bank yesterday reported a 7.2%% rise in second-quarter profit helped lower provisions and reduced funding costs, beating analysts’ expectations.

The lender, jointly owned by the governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, posted a profit of 488.3mn dirhams ($132.95mn) in the second quarter to June 30, up from 455.7mn dirhams in the prior-year period, it said in a bourse statement.

Analysts had forecast average profit of 474.23mn dirhams for the quarter in a Reuters poll.

Impairment loss in the quarter fell to 111.9mn dirhams from 120.1mn dirhams a year ago, UNB said, while interest expense dropped sharply to 257.9mn dirhams, compared with 372mn dirhams a year ago.

In April, UNB fully repaid an outstanding 1.7bn drihams loans to the UAE ministry of finance. The bank had earlier repaid 1.5bn dirhams in the first quarter of 2013.

 

Aluminium Bahrain

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) yesterday said its second-quarter net income dropped 42% on unrealised derivative gains as well as lower metal prices.

The smelter made a second-quarter net profit of 20.7mn dinars ($54.91mn) compared with 35.6mn dinars in the corresponding period in 2012, Alba said in an e-mailed statement.

Second-quarter sales reached 195.5mn dinars, down from 196.5mn dinars in the prior-year period.

The company’s board has recommended an interim cash dividend of 14 fils per share, the statement added.

 

Arab Bank

Jordan’s Arab Bank, one of the largest Middle East financial institutions, expects double-digit growth in net profit in 2013, bank officials said. The bank reported first-half net profit up 7.5% to $387mn on a year ago and officials said the full-year outcome would be boosted by much lower provisions compared with a year ago, along with steady growth in net operating income.

Both those trends would improve the bank’s bottom line, officials said after a first half in which the lender benefited from an upturn in the oil-producing Arab Gulf region, where it has a strong presence.

“The bank is capitalising on strong growth opportunities in the Arab Gulf region,” said the bank’s chairman Sabih Masri in a statement.

Bank officials say the wave of political unrest across the region since 2011 would continue to affect business, but a diversified regional and global portfolio helped reduce risks.

Masri said the bank’s latest results showed Arab Bank’s “strong performance reflected the bank’s ability to deal with a challenging environment in the region and to grow in its core markets.”

Arab Bank, which has a $45.6bn balance sheet spread across 30 countries and five continents, has seen a slowdown in profit growth in recent years as it puts aside provisions to cover non-performing loans to businesses reeling from the global downturn.