Manama: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: Bahrain Duty Free Shop Complex (BDFS) is still exploring various avenues of expansion across the region with plans to takes its footprint to the region’s largest economy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Farouk Yousif Almoayyed, Chairman, of BDFS said that the company has navigated through the challenging year of 2022 and the company hopes the year 2023 will be another strong year. “We are still working on our expansion plans including Saudi Arabia but nothing yet crystalised,” he said.
The Chairman was speaking to The24X7News Bahrain (www.twentyfousevennews.com) on the sidelines of the company’s general assembly held at the Rotana Downtown Hotel.
In an ordinary general assembly, the overwhelming majority of 67.86 per cent of the total shareholding of Bahrain Duty Free Shop Complex (BDFS), approved the financial statement for the year ending on 31st December 2022.
The BDFS has reported a net income of BD 3.7million representing a growth of 72.5 per cent over the previous year even though 2022 has been a challenging year for the global economy with persistent inflation pressures and consequent interest rates hikes by Central Banks around the world to combat inflation.
Based on the financial results, the board of directors have approved a full year cash dividend of thirty fils per share.
The Chairman BDFS told shareholders that despite the challenging year, the Company has managed it’s investments well and with business confidence improving, the performance has been very impressive and the outlook remains positive.
The Chairman said that the strong performance was derived mainly from our joint venture company which realized good sales and profits in the quarter and year to date. He went on to say that the company is on course to exceed it’s 2021 net income results due to an improvement in market conditions and resilient performance of all the investment portfolio.
Abdulla Buhindi, Vice Chairman added that he was pleased with the good results recorded by the Company and that the investment portfolio had performed well compared to 2021 through solid performance of all sectors within the portfolio.
For the full year 2022, the Company reported total income of BD 4.5million representing an increase of 34.2% over last year. Net income of BHD 3.7m was achieved in 2022. This represents an increase of 72.5% compared to last year. Earnings per share are 26 fils compared to 15 fils in 2021.
Bahrain Duty Free’s balance sheet continues to be healthy and strong with a total investment portfolio of BD 44.8million and total assets standing at BD46.6 million. During the year shareholders’ equity reached BD46.3million.
