CAIRO: NSGB, Egypt’s second-biggest private bank by market capitalization, said second-quarter net profit rose 14 percent year on year despite a popular uprising that wiped out the country’s economic growth.
NSGB’s net profit for the quarter climbed to LE 369.2 million ($62 million) from LE 323.1 million in the second quarter of 2010. Two economists polled by Reuters had forecast, on average, a net profit of LE 358.5 million.
Net interest income rose to LE 512.4 million from LE 462.3 million a year earlier.
"Given the instability of the political and economical environment for the past five months, NSGB was … flexible enough to meet the needs and requirements of customers and the market at a critical time," the bank said in press release.
Egypt’s commercial banks were closed for nearly two weeks during the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11. The economy contracted during the first half of 2011 as tourists and investors stayed away.
For the first half of the year, net profit rose 8 percent to LE 733 million, the bank said.
NSGB was the second of Egypt’s big private banks to post results. Earlier this week, Credit Agricole Egypt said first-half net profit fell 30 percent from a year earlier.
