RIYADH: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank announced a 54 percent increase in net profit to 1.1 billion dirhams ($300 million) in the first quarter of 2022 compared to 715 million dirhams in the same period of last year, driven by solid business growth and greater margins.

The bank’s revenues booked a 45 percent rise in the first three months of 2023 to 2 billion dirhams compared to 1.4 billion dirhams in the year-ago period.  

“The UAE economy saw a good start in 2023 supported by higher oil prices and continuation of the diversification strategy. The record return on equity of 23.4 percent reflects the benefit of higher income and significant structural gains from our strategic initiatives,” said Jawaan Awaidah Al-Khaili, chairman of ADIB.

“We continued to attract new customers to the bank, welcoming 46,000 new customers in Q1 2023 and growing our market share,” he added.

He also stated that incorporating sustainability and the environmental, social and governance norms into their strategy has begun paying off.

“In wholesale banking, we were able to grow financing by 15 percent due to strong momentum in deal execution,” said Al-Khaili, adding that it was driven by demand from existing large corporates and new bank customers.

“Our capital adequacy ratio of 17.54 percent is well above the minimum regulatory thresholds, allowing us to sustain our growth,” he added.

Emirates NBD profits more than double in Q1

Dubai’s Emirates NBD registered a whopping 119 percent increase in net profit to 6 billion dirhams in the first quarter of 2023 from 2.74 billion dirhams in the same period last year.

The record earnings were fueled by the performance of the group’s diversified business model and a thriving regional economy.

The bank’s revenues reached 10 billion dirhams for the first time. In addition, it claimed to have issued 144,000 new credit cards and disbursed 8 billion dirhams in retail loans, booking its strongest-ever quarter.

Profits increased by 119 percent year-on-year and 54 percent quarter-on-quarter.

FAB net profits falls 23.2% in Q1

First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE’s largest lender, reported a 23 percent decline in net profit to 3.93 billion dirhams in the first quarter of 2023 from 5.12 billion dirhams in the same period last year.

However, the lender reported a 70 percent year-on-year increase in the first quarter’s earnings when excluding gains from the sale of a stake in its payments subsidiary Magnati, which were recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

Total income was 6.7 billion dirhams in the first quarter, down 7 percent year-on-year, but operating income increased 51 percent.

In the first quarter, the bank took 798 million dirhams in impairment costs, up 74 percent from 457.4 million dirhams last year.

Total assets at the bank, which is majority controlled by the Abu Dhabi government, rose 21 percent to 1.2 trillion dirhams, it said.  

This gain was “led by sizable deposit inflows deployed across loans and high-quality liquid assets,” Reuters reported.

DP World posts gross volume growth of 3.7% in Q1

Emirati port operator DP World handled 19.5 million 20-foot equivalent units across its global portfolio of container terminals in the first quarter of 2023. That helped the operator register a 1.4 percent year-on-year increase in its gross container volumes on a reported basis and 3.7 percent rise on a like-for-like basis.

The robust performance in Asia Pacific and India drove the rise, slightly mitigated by a weaker performance in Europe and the Americas.

In the first quarter of 2023, Jebel Ali handled 3.5 million TEU, a 2.3 percent increase year-on-year.

“Given the geopolitical backdrop, high inflation and currency fluctuations, the near-term outlook remains somewhat uncertain,” said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO of DP World.

“However, we expect our portfolio to deliver a stable performance in 2023 as we remain focused on driving revenue synergies from our recent acquisitions while managing costs and growth capex,” he continued.

DP World terminals handled 11.4 million TEU during the first quarter of 2023, up 0.7 percent year-on-year on a reported basis.