Earnings decline 10% Q-o-Q; in line with estimates. Samba’s 4Q2015 headline net income declined 10% Q-o-Q to SAR1,232 million, slightly above our estimate of SAR1,218 million.   Main Positives: i) Improvement in spreads (+5bps Q-o-Q); ii) Loan growth (+2.1% Q-o-Q); iii) and low provisions (annualised credit cost of 10bps). Main Negatives: i) Weaker non-interest income (-24% Q-o-Q); and ii) decline in deposits(-2% Q-o-Q)   Our view on the results: A decent set of results. Spread improvement and low provisioning costs were main positives. Spreads were likely helped by the shedding of expensive deposits. Credit costs remained low for yet another quarter, likely helped by recoveries. However, cost of risk of 11bps for 2015 is well below normalised levels, and should rise in 2016 as weaker economy puts pressure on asset quality, in our view. Non-interest income was likely dented by lower investment income, which should have eased from a high base in the previous quarter. Loan book grew 2.1% Q-o-Q, recovering from the contraction in the previous quarter.   We have a Buy rating on Samba. Strong balance sheet liquidity (LDR of 76% vs. sector average of c82%) coupled with impressive track record on credit risk management should help Samba weather a challenging 2016, in our view. The stock trades at 2016e P/E of 8.0x and P/BV of 0.9x. (Earnings release, Murad Ansari)