ABG reports net operating income of $192m in 1H

Bahrain-based major global Islamic bank, Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG), on Sunday said that the net operating income amounted $192 million in first half of 2012, which represents an increase of 13% compared to the net operating income during the first half of 2011.

The bank in a statement said that its continued expansion in business reflected positively on the income, with total operating income reaching $412 million in the first half of 2012, an increase of 17% over same period in 2011.

The net income amounted to $121 in first half of 2012 compared to $110 million in first half of 2011, which reflects an increase of 10%. The net income attributable to the equity holders of the parent amounted $70.8 million in the first half of 2012 compared to $64.4 million in the first half of 2011, which reflects an increase of 10%. This increase was achieved despite the increases in the operating expenses of the Group on account of further expansion in the branch network and enhancements in IT infrastructure and human resources.

The total assets of the Group amounted to $17.6 billion as at the end of June 2012, an increase of 3% over the comparative figure as at the end of 2011. Financing and investments amounted to $12.7 billion as at the end of June 2012 compared to $ 11.8 billion at the end of December 2011, an increase of 8%. Customer deposit including equity of investment account-holders have witnessed an increase of 3% from $14.7 billion at the end of December 2011 to $15.1 billion at the end of June 2012, which indicates continued customer confidence and loyalty to the Group. Total equity enhanced by 3% to reach $1.84 billion at the end of June 2012.

With regard to the results of the second quarter of the year 2012 compared with the same period last year, total operating income increased by 13% to reach $206 million, while net income was $63 million, an increase of 12% from what it was during the same period last year, which amounted to $57 million. Net income attributable to the equity holders of the parent amounted 38 million for the second quarter of 2012 compared to $34 million for the same period last year, which represent an increase of 13%.

With regard to the results of the second quarter of the year 2012 compared with the results of the first quarter of the same year, total operating income remained at the same level, while net income increased by 10% to reach $63 million for the second quarter of 2012 compared with $57 million for the first quarter of 2012.

“The second quarter of 2012 witnessed the spread of the adverse effects of Euro Zone’s crisis into the world economy as a result of the decline in its imports of products and raw materials including oil,” Commenting on these results, Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, Chairman of Al Baraka Banking Group, said.

“This created new challenges for our countries, which were added to the political and economic repercussions of events witnessed by a number of them during the past period. These had negative implications on the environment of the banking sector. It is natural that the operations of banks would have affected by these developments, but we nevertheless, thanks to God, continued in ABG to achieve good results, which reflects the Group success in following the right Islamic banking model as well as precautionary strategies that enabled it to deal wisely with these developments and to continue expanding its business and income,” he added.

“The economic and financial developments during the past few months of this year were very difficult indeed and they further created adverse repercussions resulted from the world crisis, which was started during the third quarter of 2008. Because of this crisis, financial institutions across the world were forced to adopt conservative and cautious business strategies. In light of these developments and conditions, we consider the financial results achieved by the Group in first half of 2012 as excellent by all standards and they reflect the success of the business strategies,” Abdulla Ammar Al Saudi, Deputy Chairman of ABG, said.

“The financial results achieved by the Group in first half of 2012 can be considered as excellent if we take into account the difficult economic and financial conditions that prevailed in the region and the world as a whole. Such results were not possible to achieve were it not for the flexible and ambitious strategies of the group, which were based on a number of objectives, programs and initiatives that aimed to achieve strong growth in earnings and operations taking advantage of the Group’s depth of geographical presence, thorough knowledge of the Islamic markets and banking products, financial strength and a wide branch network which is the largest amongst Islamic banking institutions. These strategies, at the same time, dealt with the repercussions of the global crisis and political events with prudence and realism,” Adnan Ahmed Yousif, President and Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group, said.