Bank of Sharjah has reported a 47.9 percent jump in profits for the 12 months of 2003, beating its stated target of 40 percent.
According to the bank’s general manager Varouj Nerguizian, the bank recorded a net profit of 87.4 million Emirati dirhams ($23 million) for the year, up from Dh 59.1 million in 2002.
Bank of Sharjah's Bank of Sharjah has reported a 47.9 percent jump in profits for the 12 months of 2003, beating its stated target of 40 percent. Total advances as of December 31, 2003 were Dh 1.545 billion, an increase of 16.4 percent on 2002.
Average weighted capital at the end of 2003 stood at Dh 621 million; total equity was Dh 891.5 million, up 128 percent from Dh 391.3 million the previous year.
Officials claimed that the increase in deposits would have been higher had a significant volume of deposits not been converted into capital, at the request of shareholders late last year, in order to treble the bank's capital from Dh 260 million to Dh 750 million. The board of directors' recommendation of a cash dividend of 10 percent on the bank's expanded capital has been ratified.
Established in 1973, Bank of Sharjah is the largest financial institution in the Emirate of both capital and equity and Sharjah's biggest private company. The bank operates three branches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and will open a fourth later this year. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
