Ithmaar Holding reports results for third quarter

Manama : Ithmaar Holding BSC (formerly Ithmaar Bank BSC) (Ithmaar) reported yesterday a net loss of US$16.3 million for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2017, compared to a net profit of US$16.7m for the same period last year.

Net loss attributable to equity holders for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2017 was US$27m, compared to a net profit of US$6.5m reported for the same period last year. This included a net loss of US$14.7m for the three-month period ended 30 September 2017, compared to a net profit of US$4.8m for the same period last year. Net loss attributable to equity holders for the three-month period ended 30 September 2017 was US$17.8m, compared to a net profit of US$2.1m reported for the same period last year.

“Overall income from our core business grew significantly during the year, as evident from the higher share on income from unrestricted investment accounts as a Mudarib, which grew 49.8 percent to US$51.9m for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2017, compared to US$34.7m for the same period last year, as well as the increase in income from murabaha and other financing, which grew by 9.3 percent to US$108.4m for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2017, compared to US$99.2m for the same period last year,” said Ithmaar Chairman Prince Amr Al Faisal.

“During the nine-month period ended 30 September 2017, Ithmaar Group initiated an active programme to locate a buyer for a specific asset within the Group. Accordingly, this asset was consequently presented as an asset classified as held for sale in the consolidated statement of financial position,” said Prince Amr. “At 30 September 2017, this asset was classified as held for sale and the resultant impairment loss was recorded in the consolidated statement of income during the period,” he said.

“Although net income, before provision for impairment and overseas taxation, dropped to US$32.8m for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2017, from US$51.1m for the same period last year, this loss was mainly due to unrealized foreign exchange losses of US$17.2m,” said Prince Amr.

Ithmaar Chief Executive Officer, Ahmed Abdul Rahim, said the results reflect a clear, unwavering focus on growing the core retail banking business. “Customer current accounts increased to US$1.7 billion as at 30 September 2017, a 7.2 percent increase compared to US$1.6 billion as at 31 December 2016, and a 13.8 percent increase compared to US$1.5 billion as at 30 September 2016,” he said.