Abu Dhabi headquartered First Gulf Bank, one of the largest banks in the UAE, has announced outstanding financial results for the first nine months of 2006, achieving AED 1.14 billion in net profits, and beating the total profit delivered in the whole of the year 2005.
The result is an outstanding 60% increase in profits compared to the same period of last year.
André Sayegh, CEO, First Gulf Bank said “FGB strategy is very clear, achieving planned consistent growth is our major financial goal. The third quarter result of AED 394 million is in line with this growth momentum.
While this is obviously a very satisfying result indeed, the bank major success story relies on the fact, that we do not look at past performance only, our focus is always the future and FGB’s future is even more promising for the quarters and years ahead.
An important reason for the continued success in the years ahead is that FGB is being structured beyond traditional banking, it is becoming a full fledged financial institution who will benefit from the upside in the regional and world economies, while at the same time becoming increasingly immune to the downturns.” Sayegh added.
Diversification will continue to be an underlying ethos of the bank and will extend not only to products and services but also to its geographic footprint as we will shortly expand internationally.
Sayegh said the bank’s core business continued to perform solidly, and First Gulf Bank was also exploiting future growth potential by leveraging a wide range of additional activities ranging from Merchant Banking to Structured Investment Products.
The business is maintaining its steady growth with total assets increasing by 37% to AED 36.1 billion in September 2006 from AED 26.3 billion in December 2005. Loans and advances increased from AED 13.6 billion to AED 22.2 billion, and deposits rose from AED 17.3 billion to AED 23 billion for the same period.
Profitability ratios remain extremely healthy with the annualized return on average equity standing at 18.0% and annualized return on average assets at 4.9 %. The bank’s capital adequacy and liquidity are maintained at appropriate levels.
Sayegh continued “These results are the hard evidence that we continue to deliver our vision and commitment of maximizing profit for our shareholders, while delivering exceptional service to our customers. The bank has a strong team of professionals implementing its vision. With pride we state, that today First Gulf Bank is recognized as a world-class organization.”
About First Gulf Bank
First Gulf Bank, established in 1979 and headquartered in Abu Dhabi, is one of the fastest growing banks in the region. The bank has announced a 331 per cent increase in net profits compared to the previous year. The bank recently received a rating upgrade by Capital Intelligence to A- and a rating of BBB+ with a positive outlook by Fitch International.
For further information:
May Mohr, MCS/Action. Tel: +9714 367 1374. email: may.m@actionprgroup.com
