Moroccan bank Attijari H1 net profit up 17 pct
RABAT, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Morocco's Attijariwafabank (ATW.CS) said net profit grew 17 percent in the first six months of the year after the bank expanded its branch network to entice new customers as lending rates fell.
Traders in Casablanca said the results were in-line with expectations, but Attijari's shares tumbled on Tuesday on concern over the broader outlook for Moroccan company profits.
Net profit grew to 1.73 billion dirhams ($219.1 million) while revenues jumped 25 percent to 5.34 billion dirhams, the Casablanca-based bank said in a statement.
Its stock fell 6 percent in late morning trade to 279.05 dirhams before being suspended after falling below a stock market limit. At 1239 GMT, the wider Casablanca benchmark MASI index was down 3.1 percent at 12,570.93 points.
"Attijari is just going down with the rest after some company earnings proved a disappointment," said a Casablanca analyst.
Attijari, part of the Moroccan royal family's ONA group (ONA.CS), controls over a quarter of the north African country's consumer lending market.
More Moroccans are opening accounts and seeking out loans to buy homes and cars after reforms to strengthen a banking sector, once mired in bad debts, pushed interest rates lower.
Attijari's client credits rose 15 percent in the first half of 2008 to 122.6 billion dirhams, while deposits were up 9.2 percent at 149 billion dirhams.
The amount of bad loans was little changed from the start of the year at 3.96 billion dirhams.
(Reporting by Tom Pfeiffer; edited by Simon Jessop)
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($1=7.896 Moroccan Dirham) Keywords: IJARI RESULTS/
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