Oasis Leasing Board recommends stock split of 10-1 and restructuring of company

The recommendations will be presented to the company's shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting which will take place shortly.

The recommendations followed a Board of Directors meeting in Abu Dhabi which was presided over by the Oasis Chairman, H.E. Hussain Al Nowais.

In light of the company's expansion plans, the Board has also recommended that no dividends be distributed to its shareholders for the 2006 financial year.

"We have ambitious plans for growth this year and these plans require the allocation of adequate resources. We have taken the decision not to distribute dividends for 2006 as we see the need to make ongoing investments into growing our operations,"

said H.E. Al Nowais.

Oasis has already notified the Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM) about the Board's recommendations. The Board also attested the company's financial results for 2006 which reported a 240 per cent increase in annual earnings, with net profits reaching AED 95.8 million.

"We believe that the proposed share split will eventually strengthen the company and bring more benefits to our stakeholders. The share split will help broaden the shareholder base of Oasis, which is line with the spirit of the current economic reforms underway in the UAE.

"Oasis will continue to strengthen its performance by adopting distinctive and innovative investment and financial programs and work hard to secure new financial resources," Al Nowais said.

Oasis Leasing recently announced its intention to restructure itself as Oasis Holdings PJSC, which will in turn create two private joint stock companies - one of them Oasis Leasing and the other Oasis Capital - as subsidiaries. This move is pending regulatory and shareholder approval.