Kuwait’s Gulf Bank (GB) posted a 10 percent increase in net profits in the first nine months of 2002 reaching 36.6 million Kuwaiti dinars. The Bank reported a return on equity of 24 percent, an improvement of four percent over last year and a return on assets of 2.41 percent. Earnings per share grew by 11 percent to 45.7 fils up from 41.1 fils last year.
In the first nine months of the year, the bank jointly arranged and underwrote the KD 114 million ($368 Million) debt financing for the Sulaibiya Waste Water Project. It also introduced seven new 24-hour Self-Service Branches and four new branches in Nuzha, Dai’ya, Fahaheel and Firdous and the reconstruction of the branches in Audailya and Shuwaikh.
GB is Kuwait's second largest commercial bank and previously purchased 21.2 million of its shares worth 13.3 million Kuwaiti dinars ($43 million). The bank announced in January that it recorded an 18.9 percent rise in its annual net profits, reaching 42.1 million Kuwaiti dinars ($137 million) in 2001, compared to $115 million in the previous year 2000. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
