The Dubai-based investment bank SHUAA Capital released its annual financial results for the period ending March 31, 2002, with an operating profit of 5.8 million Emirati dirhams ($1.58 million) and a net profit of Dh1.1 million after provisions. The company had changed its financial year to comply with United Arab Emirates (UAE) Central Bank regulations, requiring all financial investment companies in the UAE to have a March yearend.
SHUAA Capital’s Chairman Majid Saif Al-Ghurair stated that the financial results do not reflect the real progress achieved last year. He said that despite the impact of global and regional events on the capital markets and SHUAA Capital’s investment portfolios, the bank managed to significantly increase its revenues to Dh31.6 million from Dh13.6 million in 2000 and to increase total consolidated assets by 30 percent to Dh530 million.
Al-Ghurair expressed his confidence that financial results in the coming years will reflect the efforts that have been made towards transforming the company into financial services company in the UAE.
“Last year was a difficult period for investment banking and financial services companies worldwide,” acknowledged SHUAA Capital’s CEO Iyad Duwaji. “The volatility of the financial markets impacted the company’s expected returns from its private equity portfolios in terms of capital gains and resulted in delaying the company’s exit from investments as originally planned.”
Duwaji nevertheless expressed his confidence that the current strategic plan, which aims at diversifying the sources of the company’s income to include advisory services and fund management, has been successful in its first year. He noted that the fees collected from these two activities increased by 280 percent to reach six million Dh in 2001. There was also an increase of 241 percent in client funds under management, reaching Dh251 million this year.
The year 2001 also witnessed the launch of corporate finance activities and the conclusion of several mandates, including the underwriting and placement of a Dh110 million bridge loan facility arranged by SHUAA Capital to finance the acquisition of Aramex International Limited.
About 50 percent of the company’s investments are in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and 33 percent are in other Arab countries, namely Egypt and Jordan, with the remaining 17 percent invested in Europe and the United States. The allocation of assets was almost equally balanced between fixed income securities, publicly traded equities and private equity investments.
SHUAA Capital recently launched two new investment funds: Al-Thiqa Fund, a fund focused on UAE equities and open to all investors including non-UAE nationals, and The Arab Income Fund (TAIF), focused primarily on debt instruments and targeted primarily towards financial institutions and insurance companies.
Established in 1979, SHUAA Capital is a public shareholding company located in Dubai and operates as a financial services company specializing in the Arab region in general, and the UAE and the GCC markets in particular. In addition to investing its own capital, SHUAA Capital’s activities include underwriting of securities and other corporate finance activities, investment advisory services, asset and portfolio management and brokerage in local and international securities.
The company’s consolidated assets total Dh530 million and its shares are traded on the Dubai Financial Market and the Kuwait Stock Exchange. Formerly known by its acronyms AGICO and SHUAA, the company assumed a new identity in April 2001. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
