BankMuscat Q3 net profit at RO62.6m

Net interest income increased by 23.8% to RO 90.5 million during the nine months ended Sep 30, 2007 from RO 73.1 million reported during the corresponding period in 2006, mainly driven by asset growth. Non-interest income had an impressive growth of 57.5% to reach RO 34.5 million for the nine months period ended Sep 30, 2007 as compared to RO 21.9 million of the same period in 2006. Operating expenses have increased by 29.9% during the nine months ended Sep 30, 2007 as compared to the same period in 2006 mainly due to increase in manpower and other administrative costs as a result of increased business activities, expansion of business lines and expansion of infrastructure. However, cost to income ratio reduced to 39.4% during the nine months of 2007 as against 39.9% during the same period in 2006.

Impairment for credit losses was RO 11.9 million for the nine months period ended Sep 30, 2007 as compared to RO 13.8 million during the corresponding period in 2006. Share of profit from associates have increased from RO 3.3 million for the nine months ended Sep 30, 2006 to RO 4.1 million during the same period in 2007 due to better performance of associates and contribution from Mangal Keshav Holdings, India where the Bank has taken a strategic stake of 43% in April 2007.

The basic earnings per share on an annualized basis works out to 91 baizas for every 100-baiza share of the Bank.

The Bank's net Loans and Advances of RO 2,361 million as of Sep 30, 2007 has grown by 39.1% as compared to the position as of Sep 30, 2006. Customer deposits have also seen a growth of 34.8% from RO 1,688 million as of Sep 30, 2006 to RO 2,276 million as of Sep 30, 2007. Savings deposits have registered an impressive growth of RO 165 million or 44.3% from RO 372 million as of Sep 30, 2006 to RO 537 million as of Sep 30, 2007.