NBAD profit flat in Q1, beats estimates

National Bank of Abu Dhabi beat analysts’ forecasts even though growth in first-quarter net profit was flat to last year.

The biggest bank in the United Arab Emirates by market value posted a net profit of 1.41bn dirhams ($383.9mn), unchanged from the first quarter a year earlier. “Overall, we produced very good ‘business as usual’ results in a marketplace in which we continue to see margin compression,” CEO Alex Thursby said .

“Our strategy enables us to generate growth at acceptable returns for our shareholders in this competitive environment.”

For NBAD, a 2.7% gain in first-quarter net interest income was offset by a 4.4% year-on-year drop in non-interest income.