Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi British Bank (SABB) on Monday reported near-stable profits for the first quarter of 2018 from a year ago.

SABB logged SAR 1.039 billion ($ million) in profits between January and March, up 0.29% from SAR 1.036 billion ($ million) in the corresponding period of 2017.

Quarter-on-quarter, profits hiked 47.17% from SAR 706 million, SABB said in a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

SABB attributed the profit gain to a 5.7% rise in net special commission income and a 6.3% decrease in operating expenses on the back of lower provisions for credit losses and impairment of other financial assets, partially offset by an increase in general and administrative expenses.

Total profits amounted to SAR 1.774 billion in Q1-18, down 2.74% from SAR 1.824 billion a year earlier.

Meanwhile, earnings per share (EPS) stood at SAR 0.69 in Q1-18 unchanged from the same period of 2017, SABB added.

The Saudi bank had previously reported a 16.31% year-on-year rise in net profits to SAR 706 million in the final quarter of 2017 from SAR 607 million in the same period a year earlier.

SABB’s stock was stable at Monday’s close at SAR 33 per share.