Sharjah Islamic Bank’s net profit up 7% in Q1

Provisions increased 254.6 per cent due to increase in higher impairment

Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) yesterday reported a net profit of Dh164.2 million, up 7 per cent compared to Dh153.7 million for the same period last year.

The bank’s operating profits before provisions amounted to Dh212.2 million, up 26.9 per cent compared to Dh167.2 million for the same period last year. Provisions increased 254.6 per cent as a result of the increase higher impairment, which amounted to Dh48 million, compared to Dh13.5 million from the same period last year, an increase of Dh34.5 million.

Growth in assets

The balance sheet reflects the bank’s total assets of Dh54.9 billion at the end of March 2020, growing by 2.5 per cent compared to Dh53.6 billion at the end of 2020.

The SIB continued to diversify its financing facilities portfolio in different economic sectors in accordance with its prudent credit policy that takes into consideration the effects of the prevailing market volatility and instability in global and regional capital market on banking operations. Financing facilities reached Dh29.3 billion, in the same level at the yearend December 31, 2020.

Attracting more deposits

SIB successfully attracted more deposits during the period as customer deposits increased by 5.6 per cent to reach Dh35.5 billion compared to Dh33.6 billion at the yearend 31 December 2020.

The banks reported liquid assets stayed strong at Dh12.8 billion or 23.3 per cent of total assets at the end of March 2021. On the expenses side, general and administration expenses declined to Dh131.4 million at the end of the first quarter 2021 compared to Dh135million for the same period 2020, a decrease of Dh2.1 million or 1.5 per cent, due to operational efficiencies achieved by the bank.