BBK reports net profit of BD32.1m, up 18.2%, for the nine months ended 30th September 2012

Expressing his satisfaction on the achieved results, Mr. Murad Ali Murad said "BBK's fundamental strengths, along with its clear strategic vision, robust risk management practices and sustainable financial performance underpins the bank's ability to generate solid performance and consistent growth despite the challenging operating environment".

The main contributors to such improvement in the underlying profitability were the robust growth in net interest income, coupled with healthy increase in other income. Net interest income grew remarkably by 11.4% to amount to BD48.4m, compared to the same period ended September 2011, which included BD0.5m of gain on partial redemption of term borrowings (as at 30 September 2012: nil). The improvement in net interest income was a result of the increase in the bank's net loans and advances and non-trading investments portfolios. Further, this was a reflection of the successful strategic implementation of re-compositioning of the bank's loans and investments portfolios. The bank's fees and commission income also registered a growth of 11.1% amounting to BD21.7m. FX & Investment income reported a steady income of BD9.5m. The bank's continuous investments in latest technologies, distribution networks, and its human resources resulted in increasing the operating cost by 4.1% compared to the period ended September 2011. Nevertheless, the cost to income ratio was improved from 49.3% to 46.8%.

Net profit for the three months ended September 2012 stood at BD8.8m compared to BD4.0m which was reported in the three months ended September 2011. Net interest income for the quarter of BD17.0m increased by 16.7%, while other income, including fees and commission and FX and investment income have grown by 18.7% to reach BD11.4m. The bank reported BD7.3m as provision requirements for the third quarter of 2012, compared to BD7.7m compared to the same period of last year.

Mr. A.Karim Bucheery, Chief Executive; said "The bank's core profitability is on an upward positive trend along-with improved cost efficiency, and business volumes are showing signs of improvement across the region".

The bank has recently received the Hawkama Award for Corporate Governance. On this, Mr. Bucheery commented "BBK continues to commit itself to apply modern, transparent and effective governance principles with its customers, employees, shareholders and general public. We are very proud that BBK was able to maintain high levels of commitment on that aspect and to receive the honorable "Hawkamah Bank Corporate Governance Award" for the past 3 years consecutively.

Comprehensive income has increased by BD41.1m to reach BD52.2m in September 2012; this was mainly driven by the improvement in the market value of the non-trading investments and as a result of the bank strategy to continuously improve the quality of its investment portfolio.

BBK's balance sheet grew remarkably to amount to BD2,981m, an increase of 9.1% when compared to 30th September 2011. This has reflected a strong underlying business growth driven by increases in customer assets and deposits. Loans and advances stood at BD1,464m, registering an increase of 5.4%, resulted mainly from the increase in retail and corporate loans. Non trading investment assets have witnessed a rapid growth of 42.9% to reach BD723m as of 30th September 2012.

During the year BBK has managed to keep liquidity parameters at a very comfortable level with loans to deposits ratio standing at 61%.