Riyadh – Mubasher: Riyad Bank on Wednesday reported a 19.5% rise in net profits, reaching SAR 4.71 billion ($1.26 billion) during 2018 from SAR 3.94 billion ($1.05 billion) in 2017.

The Saudi lender attributed the rise in annual earnings to a 10.4% year-on-year growth in operating income, which reached SAR 8.96 billion versus SAR 8.12 billion, according to a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

Total revenues for special commissions and investments went up 12.2% year-on-year, reaching SAR 8.33 billion from SAR 7.42 billion during 2017.

Riyad Bank's net income for special commissions and investments jumped 13% to SAR 6.68 billion during 2018, compared to SAR 5.93 billion in the twelve-month period of 2017.

Earnings per share (EPS) amounted to SAR 1.57 in 2018 against SAR 1.32 in 2017.

As for the fourth quarter of 2018, the Saudi-listed lender’s profits surged 38.8% to SAR 1.35 billion from SAR 974 million during Q4-17, according to Mubasher's statistics.

By the end of December 2018, the Saudi National Commercial Bank (NCB) began initial discussions with Riyad Bank for a possible merger that would create an asset base of $182 billion for this entity.

Riyad Bank’s stock went down 0.18% to close Wednesday’s trading session at SAR 22.20.