Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB) reported a 46.45% decline in net profits to SAR 150.7 million during the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, compared to SAR 281.4 million in the year-ago period.

The drop in net profits is driven by a rise in total operating expenses caused by an increase in provisions for credit and other losses, salaries, premises-related expenses, and other administrative expenses, according to the bank's interim financial results for Q1-20 disclosed to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) on Tuesday.

The bank's assets increased by 6.298% to SAR 100.805 billion in the first three months of 2020 from SAR 94.832 billion in the same period of 2019.

The net income from special commissions and financing and investments rose by 0.257% to SAR 582.7 million in Q1-20 from SAR 582.1 million in the same quarter of 2019.

The earnings per share (EPS) settled at SAR 0.2 in Q1-20, versus SAR 0.38 in the year-ago period.

It is noteworthy to mention that in 2019, the bank's net profits declined by 58.5% to SAR 239 million, compared with SAR 576 million in 2018.