SALAMA shareholders approve 10 per cent stock dividends at AGM

Shareholders also discussed and approved SALAMA's annual report with the audited financials, along with the Board of Directors Report. They agreed that shareholders who have held shares up until 4 May 2006 would be entitled to the stock dividend (scrip) payout, which will be effective five trading days following the AGM - Sunday, 7 May 2006.

Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed bin Saqr al Nahyan, Chairman of SALAMA, Islamic Arab Insurance Company said

"The last twelve months have been exceptional for SALAMA. Not only was the IPO a major success but we also acquired a majority stake in TARIIC (Bahrain) and BEST RE, the world's largest Re-Takaful company, which has expanded our geographical footprint to include the North African market - specifically in Egypt, Algeria, Senegal and Tunisia."

"In addition we made a strong debut on the Dubai Financial Market and successfully rebranded the company. We have more than doubled the profit projected for 2005. These strong financial results reflect the strides we have made towards local and regional expansion to provide a comprehensive range of Shari'ah compliant insurance solutions by Takaful system to the Muslim community throughout the world." Sheikh Khaled added.

The success has continued in 2006, with a net profit of AED 65 million (US $17.8 million) recorded for the first quarter of this year. This is an increase of 20 per cent above profits recorded for the fourth quarter of 2005.

Dr. Saleh Malaikah, Vice-Chairman and CEO, SALAMA, Islamic Arab Insurance Company delivered an optimistic forecast for 2006. "Our results for the first quarter of the year have exceeded the original IPO forecast, and we have in fact achieved 70 per cent of the expected profits for the entire year," he said.

"We are investing close to AED 1.1 billion (US $300 million) in growing the company and we fully expect this strong growth to continue in 2006 and beyond, driven by a very aggressive expansion into new markets and products." Malaikah continued.

SALAMA expects global demand for Takaful and Re-Takaful products and services to grow significantly over the next five years. Market value is forecast to increase from
US $1.7 billion to between US $7.5 billion and US $10 billion.

Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed bin Saqr al Nahyan said "This year we will diversify our product base by introducing Health Takaful and Family Takaful in all markets to position the company to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the Takaful and Re-Takaful markets."

SALAMA was listed on the Dubai Financial Market in October 2005 following an Initial Public Offering, which helped raise the company's capital to AED 1 billion (US$ 273.9 million). It has six Takaful companies and provides services in 70 countries through Tunisia-headquartered BEST Re, the world's largest Re-Takaful company.

"Following our successful IPO, we made a strong debut on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and SALAMA shares are currently one of the market's most actively traded stocks," concluded Sheikh Khaled.