By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter
The banks and financial services sector witnessed marginal erosion in their net profitability during the first half (H1) of this year.
The sector, which has 12 listed constituents, saw its cumulative net profit rise 6.93% to QR9.58bn during January-June this year against a 7.52% gain in the corresponding period of 2013.
The index of banks and financial services sector, under which three lenders saw shrinkages in their net incomes, was seen melting 1.92% compared to a 0.64% fall in the main benchmark in the bourse.
Qatar’s largest lender QNB saw its net profit rise 7% to QR5.07bn but the growth was substantially lower than the 15.09% in the year-ago period. The 7% growth in net profit in H1 this year was driven by operating income, including the share of results of associates.
Commercial Bank’s net profit had fallen marginally by 0.02% to QR1.02bn against a 0.69% growth in the corresponding period of 2013. This was apparently due to a surge in provisions.
Doha Bank saw its net profitability improve 5.16% to QR787.02mn compared to a mere 1.15% growth in the previous-year period.
Qatar Islamic Bank recorded a robust 15.11% growth in net profit to QR725.21mn against a 14.51% plunge in the year-ago period.
Ahlibank Qatar saw its net profit rise 11.81% to QR302.71mn compared to 12.35% in the corresponding period of 2013.
International Islamic’s first-half net profit jumped 9.98% to QR402.05mn against 7.5% in the previous-year period.
Masraf Al Rayan had reported a 10.12% rise in net profit to QR903.81mn in January-June this year compared to 13.18% in the year-ago period.
Al khaliji, however, witnessed 10.9% decline in net profit to QR258.84mn against a 10.93% growth in the corresponding period of 2013.
QNB Financial Services sounded optimistic on the banking sector for the rest of the year in view of the expected upturn in the credit off-take.
“Going forward, we expect the large corporate sector to be the primary driver of the growth in the loan book in 2014, followed by small and medium enterprises and consumer lending. Our view is based on the expected uptick in project mobilisations in the coming months,” QNBFS said in its latest research note.
Alijarah Holding’s (National Leasing Company) net profit for this year’s first half plunged 59.83% to QR30.68mn compared to a 28.43% fall in the previous-year period.
Qatar Oman Investment Company recorded a 36.43% surge in net profit to QR17.89mn in the first six months of this year against a mere 2.94% growth in the year-ago period.
The net profitability of Islamic Holding Group, a stock brokerage outfit, strengthened substantially year-on-year as net income soared 71.72% to QR7.56mn compared to a 5.16% expansion in the corresponding period of 2013.
Dlala Holding, another stock brokerage outfit, was back in black with it reporting net profit of QR50.56mn against net loss of QR22.65mn in the previous-year period.