Islamic Finance Co. to hold Annual General Meeting and Extraordinary General Meeting on 14 July 2008

The assembly for the first half of 2008 is scheduled to discuss and ratify the Board of Directors' recommendation for the distribution of dividends to shareholders that could reach 10% of paid up capital, in light of the remarkable net profit achieved by the end of June, which exceeded Dhs400m, or 40% of paid up capital.

The EGM is also scheduled to discuss and amend the company's Articles of Association in line with the IFC's new business direction and strategy, which will be discussed and approved during the assembly.

"The convening of the AGM/EGM comes at a time when the company is going through a full scale administrative and logistical re-engineering of its processes and alignment of its overall long term strategy that was developed by the new executive team and the existing Board, aimed at solidifying its position in the U.A.E," said Mr. Alwaleed Al Mubarak, Managing Director, Islamic Finance Company.

Al Mubarak added, "Even though the delay in holding the AGM was due to numerous reasons, which we will discus at the assembly; however, I am pleased with the financial results that the new management succeeded in achieving over a short period of time, especially that our operational profit from financing exceeded 25% of gross profit or Dhs100m."

The Board of Directors will also submit for discussion and ratification by the shareholders the new strategic business plan, which encompasses reactivating the company's financing solutions with more focus on specializations that meet market sentiments.

In addition, the new plan is to include strengthening the company's real estate investments through its subsidiaries in the UAE and the GCC, as well as building its investments portfolio in the healthcare, education and oil sectors.

IFC and Bait Al Batterjee Holding had announced in May 2008 that the construction of their joint project - Saudi German Hospital in Dubai - has been completed.

The project, built on a 90,000 square meters of land and estimated at a cost of $200m, will include in the first phase the construction of the general hospital and in the second phase the building of six specialized sub-specialty departments.