Samba's net profit slips 1.4% to SR1.31 bililion

DUBAI: Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia's third-largest bank by assets, reported a 1.4 percent drop in second-quarter net profit on Monday, in line with analysts' forecasts.
The bank made a profit of SR1.31 billion ($349.3 million) in the three months to June 30, down from SR1.33 billion in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.
Six analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast the bank would make a quarterly net profit of SR1.30 billion.
The bank attributed its drop in net profit to a 6.4 percent rise in total operating expenses as a result of an increase in salaries and related expenses and higher credit provisions.
This offset the benefits from a 15.2 percent rise in profits from special commissions, which increased to SR1.34 billion. Operating income for the quarter advanced 1.1 percent on the corresponding period of 2015 to SR1.97 billion.
Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing more detailed results later.
The Kingdom's banks are finding themselves in a trickier operating environment than they've become accustomed to in recent years as weaker oil prices pressure liquidity and slow economic growth to its lowest pace in three years.