Bankmuscat Regs Regulatory News (BKM)

1 Feb 2008 07:00

BankMuscat (S.A.O.G)31 January 2008 BankMuscat Net Profit at RO 84.2 Million Profits Rise by 39.4% Muscat, January, 31 2008: BankMuscat (SAOG), the nation's largest bank, hasachieved a net profit of RO 84.2 million for the year ended 31 December 2007, asagainst a net profit of RO 604 million for the year ended 31 December 2006, anincrease of 39.4%. Net interest income increased by 25.1% from RO 99.8 million in 2006 to RO 124.8million in 2007 Non-interest income grew on RO 30.8 million in 2006 to RO 48.1million in 2007, an impressive growth of 56.2% as a result of increased businessvolumes, product cross selling and new products & services. Operating profit ofRO 102.6 million in 2007 is 32.7% higher than the R0 77.3 million achieved in2006. Operating expenses of RO 70.3 million in 2007 are higher by 31.8% than RO53.3 million incurred in 2006. Increase in operating expenses was attributableto increase in salary costs and other administrative costs due to expansion ofdelivery network, products and business lines. The Cost to income ratio for theyear was at 40.6% as compared to 40.8% in 2006. The return on average assets was at 2.35% in 2007 as compared to 2.4% in 2006.The return on average equity substantially improved from 21.9% in 2006 to 25.3%in 2007. The basic earnings per share increased from RO 0.066 in 2006 to RO0.090 in 2007, which works to be a return of 90% on a nominal value of a share. The Bank's net loans and advances portfolio grew by RO 852 million or 46.4% toRO 2,687 million as at 31 December 2007 compared to RO 1,835 million as at 31December 2006. Customer deposits increased by RO 505 million or 27.8% to RO2,322 million as at 31 December 2007 compared to RO 1,817 million as at 31December 2006. Savings deposits had an impressive growth of 53.5% from RO 426million as at 31 December 2006 to RO 654 million as at 31 December 2007. BankMuscat enjoys a market share of 42.7% in terms of total assets, 43.3% interms of total credit and 38.0% in terms of total customer deposits as at 30November 2007. The Bank's share of total savings deposits was 43.1% as at 30November 2007. The Bank made loan loss provisions of RO 17.8 million during the year comparedto RO 18.4 million made during the year ended 31 December 2006. Loan lossprovision charge of RO 17.8 million for the year 2007 includes RO 9.2 milliontowards nonspecific loan loss provisions as per the requirement of Central Bankof Oman. The Bank holds a non-specific loan loss provision of RO 40.2 million asat 31 December 2007. During the year 2007, the Bank recovered RO 7.7 millionfrom provision for possible credit losses compared to RO 7.3 million in 2006. The Bank's associates contributed RO 5.5 million as share of profits during theyear 2007 as against a RO 4.1 million in 2006. The Board of Directors of the Bank recommended a cash dividend of 50% for theyear 2007, subject to due approval by the shareholders and regulatoryauthorities, thus keeping up the practice of consistently providing good returnsto shareholders. Ends This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange