Rajhi Bank's first-quarter profit rose 2.1 percent, as the Gulf's largest Islamic lender boosted profit from core business operations. Net income in the three months to March 31 climbed to SR1.6 billion ($427.2 million), or SR1.07 per share, compared with SR1.57 billion, or SR1.05 per share, in the year-earlier period, the bank said in a statement. The bank raised its paid-up capital by 11.1 percent earlier this year through a bonus share issue. It was the strongest rise in quarterly net profit since December 2006, after which the bank had a run of negative results due to a stock market crash in 2006, which slashed local banks' brokerage and fund management revenue. Net income from investment - the equivalent of income from lending in traditional banking -rose 11.5 percent to SR 2.03 billion, it said. Income from banking services increased 18 percent to 454 million riyals, it said, without giving details about other sources of revenue such as from trading and foreign exchange operations. “The bank continues to achieve growth by diversifying its sources of revenue, and developing the investment and corporate banking sectors along with retail banking,” Chief Executive Abdullah Sulaiman Al-Rajhi said in a statement. Local investment bank KSB Capital forecast Al-Rajhi would post a profit of SR 1.6 billion. Meanwhile, Banque Saudi Fransi, the Saudi Arabian affiliate of France's Credit Agricole, said first-quarter profit rose 6.3 percent after lending more in the world's largest oil exporter. The Kingdom's fifth-largest lender by market value, the bank made a profit of SR733 million ($195.5 million), or SR1.3 per share, in the three months to March 31, compared with SR689 million, or SR 1.23 per share, in the year-earlier period, it said in a statement. Loans advanced 34 percent to SR 68 billion, and deposits 20 percent to SR78 billion, it said. Operating income climbed 12 percent to SR 1.03 billion, led by a 32 percent rise in net lending income. __
