Bankmuscat full-year profit up 16%

Ba n k M u s c a t S AO G , Oman’s biggest bank by assets, said full-year prof it rose 16 per cent as higher income from lending offset provisions for loan losses.

Net income advanced to 117. 5 million riyals ( Dh1.1 billion) from 101.6 million riyals a year earlier, the bank said in a statement to the Muscat Securities Market yesterday.

The mean estimate of 10 analysts on Bloomberg was for a prof i t of 116. 3 million riyals.

Fourth-quarter profit increased 3 per cent to 30.3 million riyals, according to Bloomberg calculations based on subtracting ninemonth results from fullyear earnings.

Net interest income rose 13 per cent to 212.1 million riyals helped by an i mprovement in net interest margin and an increase in lending, according to the statement.

Charges for credit losses climbed 23 per cent to 56.2 million riyals as the bank boosted general provi - sions.

Net loans increased 20 per cent to 4.82 billion riyals, while customer deposits grew 32 per cent to 4.85 billion riyals.

B a n k Mus c a t ’ s s h a r e s dropped 0.8 per cent to 0.763 riyals at 10. 39am in Muscat. The shares have declined 15 per cent in the past 12 months.

Aluminium Bahrain

Aluminium Bahrain BSC, t he s econd- l argest producer of the metal in the Middle East, said full-year output increased 4. 5 per cent, beating its own forecast.

The sal es cl i mbed t o 89 3 , 020 metr i c t o n n e s from 854,593 metric tonnes a year earlier, the company known as Alba said in an emailed statement yesterday.

Fo u r t h - q u a r t e r s a l e s ros e t o 227,0 42 metric tonnes from 224,054 metric tonnes in the year-earlier period.

Kipco

Kuwait Projects Co (Kipco), the country’s largest investment company, has closed an 80 million dinar ( Dh1.05 billion) bond issue, one of the lead managers said yesterday.

The offering consisted of two tranches of four-year paper — a f ixed-rate piece priced at 4.75 per cent, and a floating-rate portion priced at 200 basis points over the Central Bank of Kuwait’s discount rate.

Kipco Asset Management, a unit of Kipco, and NBK Capital were l ead managers on the issue.

Sipchem

Saudi International Petrochemical Co ( Si pchem) said fourth-quarter prof it climbed to 211 . 2 million r iyals ( Dh207.7 million) f rom 1 25. 1 million riyals a year earlier as sales increased. Sipchem made the announcement in a statement to the Saudi bourse yesterday.

Yanbu Cement

Yanbu Cement Company said fourth- quarter prof it rose to 1 53.4 million riyals (Dh150.1 million) from 99. 5 million riyals a year earlier as sales increased. The company made t he announcement in a statement to the Saudi bourse yesterday.

Medinet Nasr Housing

Medinet Nasr Housing, an Egyptian property developer, said it agreed with Ora s c o m Deve l o p ment Holding to cancel a contract to build a 3. 5 million square metre luxury housing project in Egypt. The cancellation is due to the decline in Egypt’s real estate industry, Cairo-based Madinet Nasr said in a f illing to the Egyptian bourse yesterday.

Juhayna Food Industries

Egypt’s markets regulator approved a proposal by Juhayna Food Industries, the country’s bi ggest packaged milk producer, to reduce its capital by 20.4 million Egyptian pounds ( Dh12.3 million) to 706. 1 million pounds. The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority’s statement was published by the country’s stock exchange yesterday.

Warba Bank

Warba Bank, an Islamic lender based in Kuwait, plans to start retail operations in the first quarter.

The Kuwait Investment Authority, t he country’s s overeign wealth f und, holds 24 per cent of the bank, while the government distributed the rest “equally allocated among all Kuwaiti nationals,” the company said in emailed statement yesterday.

Warba Bank was established in 2009 with a capital of 100 million dinars (Dh1.3 billion). — Compiled from staff

reports and agencies