Qatar’s Doha Bank Q1 Net Profit Rises 5.2%, Ahead Of Estimates

Doha Bank, Qatar’s fifth-largest lender by assets, reported a 5.2 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit on Monday, beating analysts’ expectations.

The lender made a net profit of QAR420.2 million ($115.4 million) during the period, a bourse filing said, compared with QAR399.3 million in the same three months a year ago.

Six analysts, on average, forecast a net profit of QAR377.3 million for the period in a Reuters poll.

Loans and advances at the end of March stood at QAR50.8 billion, gaining 17.1 per cent on the same point of 2014, while deposits rose 4 per cent to QAR45.2 billion over the same period.

The lender received last month shareholder backing to issue capital-boosting bonds worth up to QAR2 billion as well as assent for issuance of regular bonds.

It is one of a clutch of Gulf lenders to weigh raising funds through capital instruments to sustain strong growth, diversify sources of funding and prepare for the new Basel III banking rules.

Doha Bank said April 1 that it completed the purchase of the Indian assets of HSBC Bank Oman.