DUBAI: Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest sharia-compliant lender in the emirate, said yesterday its second-quarter net profit surged 27 per cent as provisions dropped, surpassing analysts forecasts.

The bank had profit of 310 million dirhams ($84.4m) in the three months to June 30, up from 245m dirhams in the prior-year period, it said in a bourse statement. Two analysts polled by Reuters forecast net profit of 246m dirhams and 267m dirhams.

DIB's profit for the first half of the year increased marginally, hitting 555m dirhams against 552m dirhams recorded for the first six months of 2011. A 19.4-pc drop in impairments in the second quarter boosted the bank's top line. Provisions stood at 241m dirhams, down from 299m dirhams last year. Customer deposits stood at 68.3 billion dirhams at the end of June, up 5pc from the 64.8bn dirhams figure at December 31, 2011.

DIB priced a five-year, $500m Islamic bond in May. Ahead of the results, the bank's shares rose 1.1pc on the Dubai bourse yesterday.