National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) maintained good earnings growth in the first nine months of 2003 with net income rising to 18.09 million Bahraini dinars ($47.7 million), an increase of 12.3 percent against BD 16.11 million recorded during the same period in 2002.
The bank’s net income before provisions also grew by 16.4 percent from BD 16.49 million in 2002 to BD 19.19 million in 2003.
NBB’s Managing Director Hassan Ali Juma attributed the growth to an increase in total income from BD 27.01 million to BD 30.19 million, resulting from higher other income which increased from BD 9.26 million in nine months of 2002 to BD 13.20 million in the nine months of 2003.
The increase in other income was attributable to commission income from our core businesses, a strong treasury performance and good income from investment advisory and assets management activities. Despite continued expansion of the Bank's loans and deposits book, net interest income declined from BD 17.75 million in the nine months of 2002 to BD 16.99 million, mainly on account of the reduced yield on the Bank's surplus liquidity deployment in an all-time low, short-term interest rate environment.
The Bank's results reflected an improved return for the shareholders, with an earnings per share of 40.2 fils for the nine months of 2003, as compared to 35.8 fils for the nine months of the previous year. The annualized return on average equity during nine months of 2003 reached 15.5 percent. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
