National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender, raised its full-year profit forecast and said it hired 150 senior managers amid increasing growth at its fee-generating businesses.
Net profit will probably rise 8 percent to 10 percent in 2014, up from an earlier forecast of 6 percent to 8 percent, the bank said today in an emailed statement. Revenue will likely be 6 percent to 8 percent higher than in 2013, it said.
“We are seeing positive underlying trends across our businesses, particularly our fee-generating businesses,” Chief Executive Officer Alex Thursby said in the statement.
The bank is seeking to recruit 450 people this year to improve its consumer and commercial banking businesses, Thursby said in a May interview. The bank will seek to add people with experience in northeast and southeast Asia as it pursues expansion plans stretching from Lagos to Singapore.
The bank today reported second quarter net income of 1.42 billion dirhams ($390 million), beating the mean estimate of 1.26 billion dirhams of 5 analysts. Profit in the year-earlier period was 1.21 billion. Provisions for the full year will probably be lower than previous guidance of 1 billion dirhams, Chief Financial Officer James Burdett said on a conference call.-Bloomberg
