ABG achieves total net income of US$268 million
Manama : The Bahrain based Islamic banking group, Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C (ABG) announced that it achieved a noticeable increase in total operating income of 7 per cent, and net operating income before tax and provisions by 9pc during 2016 as compared to 2015.
Total operating income exceeded the level of one billion US dollars to reach US$1.08 billion in 2016 compared to US$1bn in 2015, an increase of 7pc. This improvement percentage will jump to 16pc if the effects of the devaluation of currencies of some units’ countries are excluded, the statement said. Net operating income increased by 9pc (will jump to 18pc in case of excluding of currencies devaluation effects) from US$464 million to US$507m during the same period, despite an increase of 6pc in operating expenses due to expansion in branch network from US$536m to US$567m.
After deducting provisions, which were doubled by the group as precautionary measures due to general economic and financial conditions in some countries where the units operate as well as the rest of the world, the group was able to achieve a net income attributable to equity holders of the Parent of US$152m during 2016, slowing down by 7pc compared to 2015 of US$163m. The group’s total net income reached US$268m, down by 6pc compared to US$286m during 2015. Both the net income attributable to shareholders and total income will increase by 2pc and 3pc respectively if the effects of the decrease in local currencies of the countries of some units against the US dollar were excluded. ROE reached 13pc in 2016.
With regard to the results of the fourth quarter of 2016 as compared to the results of the fourth quarter of 2015, total operating income increased by 9pc to US$285m from US$262m and net operating income by 12pc to US$145m from US$130m, while net income attributable to equity holders reached US$35m down by 16pc compared to US$42m during the fourth quarter of 2015 and total net income reached US$64m, down by 12pc compared to US$72m during the fourth quarter of 2015 as a result of doubling the provisions for the reasons mentioned earlier.
On the Group’s plans to expand its branch network, Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Member of the Board of Directors and President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group said that due to opening new branches and acquiring a bank by Al Baraka Bank Pakistan, total new branches of the units increased by 111 branches in 2016 to bring total branches to 697 branches with total staff of 12,644.
He also confirmed receiving approvals in Morocco to grant the group a licence to establish a new bank in Morocco. The new bank will be established in partnership with the Moroccan Bank for Foreign Commerce of Africa (BMCE Bank).
Looking ahead, the Chief Executive said, “For 2017, we expect the fluctuations in regional and international markets will continue, which creates difficult business environment for international banks, but we will continue our precious policy and investment of our large financial and technical resources in addition to wide geographical network of the units of the Group towards maximizing the returns for our shareholders and the investors in the Group”.
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