CEO of Samba Financial Group Eisa bin Mohammed al-Eisa announced Sunday record financial profits by the group during the second quarter of 2018. He said that the Group reported a record net profit of over SR1.4 billion ($373.3 million), beating analyst forecasts with a more than 10 percent growth, compared to profits for the same quarter of 2017. This brings the total of profits for the second half of this year to more than SR2.7 billion ($720 million), up 8 percent compared to the same period last year. Eisa attributed these results to the ability to maintain the bank’s outstanding performance in various sectors and activities, which contributed to the development of revenues and dividends and stimulation of growth rates as aspired. He also explained that the bank was able to increase its revenues from special commissions by more than 11 percent compared to the second quarter of last year, while the income of other operations increased by 21 percent. “The Group continued its efforts to strengthen its financial position early this year, reflecting the development of the banks assets that have amounted to SR232 billion ($61.8 billion) at the end of the second quarter,” Eisa said. He pointed out that as a result of the outstanding performance, the Board decided to recommend a dividend of SR1.911 billion ($509.6 million) for the first half of 2018, at a rate of 80 halalas per share after deducting Zakat, 78 percent more than what was distributed during the same period of fiscal year 2016. “There are positive indicators that accompanied the banks performance during H1 of this year despite the challenges facing the capital markets and world economies,” Eisa said.