BankMuscat announces preliminary results of Q3 2008

The results are subject to the approval of Board of Directors of the Bank in a meeting scheduled later during October 2008.

The Bank achieved a net profit of OR90.1m for the nine months ended September 30, 2008 as against a net profit of OR62.6m reported during the same period in 2007, which resulted in an impressive growth of 43.9%.

Net interest income increased by 27.4% to OR115.3m during the nine months period ended September 30, 2008 from OR90.5m reported during the corresponding period in 2007. Non-interest income has grown by OR24.4m to OR58.9m during the nine months period ended September 30, 2008 as compared to OR34.5m of the same period in 2007. Operating income for the nine months period ended September 30, 2008 increased by 39.4% to OR174.2m from OR125.0m for the same period in 2007.

Operating expenses increased by OR15.1m or 30.6% during the nine months period ended September 30, 2008 as compared to the same period in 2007. However, cost to income ratio reduced to 36.9% during the period as against 39.4% during the same period in 2007.

The Bank would release the final results along with complete set of financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2008 after the necessary approval by the Board of Directors during the last week of October 2008.