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29 March 2024

Banks dominate Abu Dhabi bourse

Published
By Staff

UAE banks boosted their net income by around 9.6 per cent in 2012 to dominate the earnings of companies listed on the Abu Dhabi securities market while the real estate sector continued its recovery, according to market data.

From around Dh16.4 billion in 2011, the net profits of national banks listed on the local bourse grew to nearly Dh18 billion in 2012, the figures showed.

The 2012 income accounted for more than half the total net earnings of 55 companies listed on the Abu Dhabi bourse, estimated at Dh33.3 billion last year.

Balance sheets showed a large part of the banks’ earnings were achieved by Abu Dhabi-based banks, with the profits of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and First Gulf Bank (FGB) soaring above Dhfour billion for the first time.

The report, published in the semi official daily Alittihad, showed NBAD’s income increased to about Dh4.3 billion in 2012 from Dh3.7 billion in 2011 while FGB’s net earnings rose to Dh4.15 billion from Dh3.7 billion.

It showed the combined net profits of 55 of the 66 firms listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange swelled by around 13 per cent to Dh33.3 billion last year from Dh29.5 billion in 2011. It said 32 companies achieved higher earnings while the profits of 15 firms declined and eight companies suffered from losses.

“The financial results of listed banks and real estate companies were mostly above expectations as they have benefited from high public spending and massive projects carried out by the government,” said Mohammed Yassin, manager of the Abu Dhabi Financial Services company. “We expect most of them to perform better in the first quarter of this year as many of them have reduced allocations for provisions.”

According to Yassin, banks, telecom and real estate companies accounted for nearly 89 per cent of the combined profits of those 55 firms in 2012. He put their earnings at around Dh29.6 billion last year compared to Dh26 billion in 2011, adding that Abu Dhabi-based real estate developers achieved the highest profit growth of 78 per cent.

“These developments showed that the real estate sector in Abu Dhabi is fully recovering and this will give a strong push to the stock market,” Yassin said.