( Banque du Liban et d'Outre-Mer Sal ) – Bank Byblos S.A.L. announced this week its first-half 2000 results showing profits almost flat at $26.1 million compared to $26.3 million in the same period last year.
The bank attributed this slight decrease to a five percentage point rise in income tax as well as the economic slowdown.
Semaan Bassil, the Bank’s vice-chairman, expected the full-year 2000 results to be the same as last year’s $50 million. Byblos added that its return on assets and equity stood respectively at 1.4 percent and 18.3 percent.
Total assets grew by 5.35 percent to reach $3.8 billion, while deposits rose by 5.43 percent to reach $3 billion. Loans grew by 7.9 percent to $1 billion and represented 27.2 percent of total assets, while non-performing loans represented 13.7 percent of the loan portfolio.
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
