Strong core business lines boost GFH profit

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Helped by strong performances across business lines, GFH Financial Group yesterday reported strong quarterly and half-yearly profit, notwithstanding the ongoing impact worldwide of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Major contributions for the second quarter of 2021 included income generated from the group’s investment banking and placement activities, financing portfolio and treasury income as well as higher contributions from the increased stake, acquired during the quarter, in Khaleeji Commercial Bank, the Group’s commercial banking subsidiary.

Q2 results

Net profit attributable to shareholders surged 109.8% to US$20.92 million from US$9.97 m in the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share were US cents 0.68 compared to US cents 0.30 for the comparative quarter of 2020. Total income was US$90.62 m compared to US$77.07 m for the second quarter of 2020, a rise of 17.6%.

Consolidated net profit was US$24.81 m compared with US$13.60 m in the second quarter of 2020, an increase of 82.3%. Total expenses were US$65.82 m compared to US$63.46 m in the comparative period of 2020, an increase of 3.7%.

H1 results

Net profit attributable to shareholders was US$37.04 m compared with US$15.05 m in the first six months of 2020, an increase of 146.1%. GFH attributed the growth to increased treasury activities and stronger performance by the commercial banking subsidiary of the Group. Earnings per share were US cents 1.21 compared to US cents 0.45 for the first six months of 2020. Total income was US$181.01 m versus US$146.53 m for the 2020 period, an increase of 23.5%.

The increase comes in line with solid performance and contributions across each of the Group’s core business activities. Consolidated net profit increased 116.5% to US$44.15 m from US$20.39 m in the first six months of 2020.Total Expenses were US$136.87 m up 8.5% from US$126.14 m for the first six months of 2020. Commenting, Jassim Alseddiqi, Chairman of GFH, said, “During the period, we continued to source unique deals through our investment banking business in the US and Europe and successfully placed them with investors eager for diversification and opportunities for sound income generation.

We also expanded our stake in our commercial banking subsidiary and continued to grow our treasury business. With our performance going from strength to strength, we are focused on delivering further growth and value creation for our stakeholders during the remainder of 2021.”

Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH, added, “Supporting the strong increase in income were contributions from our commercial banking business, our investment banking as well as income-related to financing and debt portfolios held by the Group.

We also greatly benefited from the sale of equity investments and treasury income realized from Sukuks, notes and fixed income, a fast-growing part of our business and a steady contributor to the vastly improved income and profitability delivered for the period. We look forward to building on our momentum in the forthcoming periods and maximizing the strong pipeline of opportunities we have in place.”