BM sustains earnings as Q1 net touches RO 43.8 m

Bank Muscat sustains earnings as Q1 net touches RO 43.8 million

MUSCAT, 16 April 2016 - Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate announces the first quarter 2016 results approved by the Board. The Bank posted a net profit of RO 43.8 million for the three months ended 31 March 2016 compared to RO 43.3 million reported for the same period in 2015, an increase of 1.1 per cent. The full set of financial statements is also being released to the market today.

Net Interest Income from Conventional Banking and Income from Islamic financing stood at RO 68.04 million for the three months of 2016 compared to RO 61.56 million for the same period in 2015, an increase of 10.5 per cent.

Non-interest income at RO 40 million was higher by 10.5 per cent compared to RO 36.19 million for the three months ended 31 March 2015. Operating expenses for the three month period ended 31 March 2016 at RO 43.44 million was higher by 3.6 per cent as compared to RO 41.95 million for the same period of 2015.

Impairment for credit losses for the three month period in 2016 was RO 16.95 million as against RO 12.84 million for the same period in 2015. Recoveries from impairment for credit losses were RO 5.4 million for the three month period in 2016 as against RO 7.22 million for the same period in 2015. Share of income from associates for the first quarter of 2016 was a loss of RO 0.22 million as against a share of profit of RO 0.48 million for the same period of 2015.

Net Loans and advances from conventional operation increased by 6.9 per cent to RO 6,917 million as at 31 March 2016 as against RO 6,472 million as at 31 March 2015. Customer deposits, including CDs from the conventional operations increased by 7 per cent to RO 6,974 million as at 31 March 2016 as against RO 6,519 million as at 31 March 2015.

Islamic financing receivables amounted to RO 665 million as at 31t March 2016 compared to RO 432 million as at 31 March 2015. Islamic Banking customer deposits amounted to RO 678 million as of 31 March 2016 compared to RO 308 million as at 31 March 2015.

The basic earnings per share for the quarter ended 31 March 2016 was RO 0.018 as against RO 0.018 for the quarter ended 31 March 2015. The bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.13 per cent as at 31 March 2016 against the minimum required level of 12.625 per cent as per Basel III regulations issued by the Central Bank of Oman.