#Qatar National Bank's 2019 net profit beats forecast with 4% rise - Reuters

Qatar National Bank's 2019 net profit beats forecast with 4% rise - Reuters:

Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA), the Gulf’s biggest lender by assets, posted a 4% rise in annual profit on Tuesday, beating analysts’ forecasts, as earnings were boosted by double-digit growth in loans.

The bank reported a net profit of 14.4 billion riyals ($3.95 billion) in 2019, up from 13.8 billion riyals a year earlier, it said in a statement. That was above a mean forecast of 13.9 billion riyals from a Refinitiv poll of analysts.

QNB’s fourth-quarter profit rose to 3.2 billion riyals, according to Reuters calculations, from 3 billion riyals a year earlier. Analysts at EFG Hermes had also forecast a quarterly net profit of 3.2 billion riyals.

The bank, which is 50% owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, said loans and advances grew 10% in 2019 from a year earlier, while customer deposits also rose at the same pace.