Cairo – Mubasher: The research team of MubasherTrade said, in a report issued Wednesday, that Commercial International Bank’s (CIB) net profit for the third quarter beat its estimates by 9% on lower operating costs.

CIB, Egypt’s largest private-sector bank, posted a 32% leap in net profits to EGP 3.58 billion for the first nine months of 2015, up from EGP 2.7 billion for the same period a year earlier.

The lender's net profits also rose by 37% in the third quarter of 2015 to EGP 1.328 billion compared with EGP 972 million for the same period of the previous year.

MubasherTrade earlier expected EGP 1.214 billion profit in the third quarter.

CIB attributed the profit increase for the nine-month period to the strong growth of net operating income by 30% to EGP 7.58 billion against EGP 5.8 billion for the comparable period of 2014.

According to the report, CIB’s earnings growth was driven by a 34% year-on-year increase in net interest income which came in at EGP2.085 billion, coupled with a 11% y-o-y rise in non-interest income to EGP 528 million.

MubasherTrade maintained its positive view and BUY/LOW RISK rating, with a target price of EGP 62.6 per share.