ABU DHABI, (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank reported a 51.2 percent fall in second-quarter net profit on Thursday, as it became the latest bank to book provisions against losses from the financial crisis.
The lender reported a second-quarter net profit of 303 million dirhams ($82.49 million), down from 621.25 million dirhams in the year-earlier period.
The bank said it had also booked 890 million dirhams of provisions for the first half. It previously reported setting aside 277 million dirhams provisions in the first quarter, leaving 613 million dirhams provisions in the second quarter, up 283 percent.
A source told Reuters earlier that the bank would reveal “considerable provisions”
The company made a net profit of 657 million dirhams in the first half of the year, compared with 1.08 billion dirhams a year earlier, it said in the statement.
Its earnings fell short of an average analyst forecast of 363.1 million dirhams in a Reuters survey earlier this month.
The lender reported net profit attributable to shareholders of 621.25 million dirhams in the second quarter of 2008 and 354 million dirhams in the first quarter of this year.
Earlier in the day the UAE’s Union National Bank reported a 36.4 percent drop in second-quarter net profit.
Shares in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rose 3.39 percent to 1.83 dirhams. The results were released after the close of trading.