BD 5.1 Million Bahrain Islamic Bank net profit

Results have shown that the bank achieved a net profit of BD 5.1 Million representing an increase of 63 percent compared with BD 3.1 Million for the same period of last year.

The Bank Chairman, Mr. Khalid Al Bassam, attributed this good performance to the noticeable increase in the gross operating income. He added that the bank's financial results indicate recording growing in profits.

On the other hand, the bank's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yousif Khalaf said: "The bank's operating income increased to BD 9 Million registering a 33 percent increase in comparison with BD 6.7 Million during third quarter of 2004", attributing this increase to the continuous development in different financing dealings, and the various investment activities handled by the bank, in addition to the positive return on the bank's real estate assets."

It is worth noting that profits of same period of last year registered a big profit from selling its shares in one of its related parties.

"At the same time, the return on unrestricted investment accounts before Bank's share as a Modarib increased to BD4 Million registering a 145 percent increase in comparison with BD 1.6 during the same period of last year and that is attributed to the vigorous bank's desire to distribute best optimum return on investment and that has achieved an increase in its market share at a period witnessing a continuous increase in market prices," he added.

Regarding the Bank's financial position, total assets increased by 20 percent during the nine months of this year which amounted to BD 305 million.

This increase was concentrated mainly in the general financing dealings, and the continuous growth in the bank's investment in stocks / funds in addition to Modarba and real states assets. It is necessary to point out that the increase in investments kept for non-trading purposes included a gain in the fair value of the stocks owned by the bank.

The Bank's Chief Executive Officer Mr. Yousif Khalaf concentrated on the noticeable increase of the share holder's equity which amounted to BD 64 Million registering an increase of 20 percent at the end of the period in comparison with Total Equity at the end of last year.

He attributed this to the positive change in the fair value of the bank's investment in stocks of local and regional companies.

It is worth mentioning that the bank's share price increased to 510 fils on last week trading, in comparison with the closing price at the end of December 2004 of 354 fils.