QOQ

That said, hefty provisioning expenses continued, with the bank booking PKR 5.6bn during 4Q (+80% QoQ).

Net interest income was up 11 per cent YoY although was broadly flat QoQ. Fee income was strong (+21 per cent YoY, +4 per cent QoQ) reflecting the pickup in lending during Q1 2013.

It rose by 24% YoY to $27 mln, edging up 1% QoQ. The EBITDA margin was near-flat YoY, widening by 0.5 ppt QoQ to 25.3%.

However, on a sequential basis NII accelerated steeply (+9% QoQ).

Balance sheet growth slowed down during the quarter and inched up by 0.4 per cent QoQ for the collective GCC banking sector.

We expect revenues to grow 20% YoY to $101 mln on strong demand for fracking and sidetracking services, but decline 5% QoQ on a weaker ruble.

NFI remained stagnant YoY during 9MCY18 while declining 23 percent QoQ due to lower fee income (-28 percent QoQ) and capital gains (-57 percent QoQ).

Aggregate quarterly profit also stood unchanged (down by one per cent QoQ) on quarterly basis as compared to 1Q12 which witnessed the highest recorded in the past five years.

We do not believe that the market expects further EBITDA margin decline in 4Q11, as production costs should fall QoQ following the recent steel and scrap price correction.