Bankmuscat Regs Regulatory News (BKM)

26 Mar 2007 09:29

BankMuscat (S.A.O.G)26 March 2007 BankMuscat Shareholders Approve Annual Results of the Bank. New Board of Directors elected. Muscat. March 24, 2007: BankMuscat (SAOG), the nation's premier bank,successfully concluded its Annual General Meeting and an Extraordinary GeneralMeeting in the capital today. The shareholders of the Bank duly considered andapproved the report of the Board of Directors, the report on CorporateGovernance and the Auditor's Report and financial statements of the Bank for thefinancial year ended 31 December 2006. The shareholders also approved the Boardof Director's recommendation to distribute cash dividends at the rate of (35%)of the issued share capital of the Bank (being 35 Baisa per share) and stockdividend at the rate of (10%) per share of the issued capital of the Bank (being1 bonus share for each 10 shares held) for the financial year ended 31 December2006. The Annual General Meeting also saw the shareholders successfully elect a newBoard of Directors for the Bank for another three-year term. The Extraordinary General Meeting, which preceded the Annual General Meeting theShareholders, approved the Bank's proposal to raise long-term funds up to amaximum of RO. 250 million through the issue of senior or subordinated bonds.They also agreed to authorize the Board of Directors of the Bank to determinethe currency, tenor, size, timing and terms of subscription of each issue ofbonds, provided however, that the total bonds offered are issued and subscribedin full within five years from the date of the approval of the ExtraordinaryGeneral Meeting of the Shareholders. It may be recalled that BankMuscat declared its audited financial results inJanuary this year prior to approval of the shareholders. The Bank achieved a netprofit of RO 60.4 million for the year ended 31 December 2006, as against a netprofit of RO 45.4 million for the year ended 31 December 2005, an increase of33%. Net interest income increased by 27.5% from RO 78.1 million in 2005 to RO 99.5million in 2006. Non-interest income grew from RO 23.3 million in 2005 to RO31.1 million in 2006, an increase of 33.5%. Operating profit of RO 77.3 millionin 2006 is 34.9% higher than the RO 57.3 million achieved in 2005. Operatingexpenses of RO 53.3 million in 2006 are higher by 21% than RO 44.0 millionincurred in 2005. The Cost to Income ratio for the year was at 40.8% as comparedto 43.5% in 2005. The return on average assets improved from 2.3% in 2005 to 2.4% in 2006. Thereturn on average equity improved from 20.2% in 2005 to 21.9% in 2006. The basicearnings per share increased from RO 0.058 in 2005 to RO 0.073 in 2006, whichworks to be a return of 73% on a nominal value of a share. The Bank's net loans and advances portfolio grew by RO 463 million or 33.7% toRO 1,835 million as at 31 December 2006 compared to RO 1,372 million as at 31December 2005. Customer deposits increased by RO 526 million or 40.7% to RO1,817 million as at 31 December 2006 compared to RO 1,291 million as at 31December 2005. Savings deposits increased by 26% from RO 338 million as at 31December 2005 to RO 426 million as at 31 December 2006. The Bank made loan loss provisions of RO 18.4 million during the year comparedto RO 24.4 million made during the year ended 31 December 2005. Loan lossprovision charge of RO. 18.4 million for the year 2006 includes RO. 8.9 milliontowards general loan loss provision as per the requirement of Central Bank ofOman. As of 31 December 2006, the Bank has fully met the general loan lossprovision requirement of Central Bank of Oman. The Bank holds a general loanloss provision of RO 31.1 million as at 31 December 2006. During the year 2006,the Bank recovered RO 7.3 million from provision for possible credit lossescompared to RO 15.9 million in 2005. The Bank's associates contributed RO. 4.1 million as share of profits during theyear 2006 as against a RO. 3.7 million of 2005. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange