Bankmuscat Regs Regulatory News (BKM)

BankMuscat posts RO 57.2 million H1 net profit

MUSCAT, 13 July 2011: BankMuscat, the leading financial services provider in the Sultanate, on Wednesday announced its H1'11 preliminary results. The Bank posted net profit of RO 57.2 million for the six months ended 30 June 2011 compared to RO 47 million reported during the same period in 2010, an increase of 21.7%.

The key highlights of H1'11 results are as follows:

1) Net interest income increased by 20.2 per cent to RO 105.9 million during the six months period ended 30 June 2011 from RO 88.1 million reported during the corresponding period in 2010. The increase in the net interest income was due to combination of asset growth and improvement in net interest margin.

2) Non-interest income at RO 40.9 million was higher by 21 per cent compared to RO 33.8 million in H1'10.

3) Operating expenses for H1'11 at RO 61.2 million increased by 23.8 per cent as compared to the same period in 2010. Increase in operating expenses is attributable to higher manpower cost and operating expenses related to investment in facilities, which would enhance the working environment for staff, thus enabling the Bank to provide better customer services.

4) Impairment for credit losses for the six-month period in 2011 was RO 25.7 million as against RO 20.7 million in H1'10.

5) Loans and advances increased by 11.5 per cent to RO 4,267 million as against RO 3,826 million as at June 30, 2010.

6) Customer deposits, including CDs, increased by 21.7 per cent to RO 4,332 million as against RO 3,560 million as at June 30, 2010. The increase in customer deposits was largely driven by increase in demand and savings deposits.

Amounts in RO millions

The results are subject to the approval of Board of Directors. The Bank will release the final results along with complete set of financial statements for the six-month period ended June 30, 2011 after the necessary approval by the Board of Directors at its meeting scheduled for the last week of July 2011.