Albaraka Banking Group B.S.C (ABG) held its Ordinary and Extra Ordinary General Meetings recently in Manama, Bahrain.
The Group’s shareholders discussed at the ordinary meeting the report submitted by the Board of Directors on the Group’s activities during the financial year ended on 31, December, 2008 and the reports presented by the Unified Sharia Supervisory Board and the Auditors on the balance sheet of financial year ended 31 December 2008. The final accounts of the Group for the financial year ended 31 December 2008, were approved, as well as the recommendations of the Board of Directors concerning the distribution of cash dividends to the registered shareholders as at the date of the General Meeting amounting to US$ 27.9 million, representing four cents per share or 4% of the issued capital.
The General Meeting also approved the issuance of bonus shares in an amount of US$ 46.5 at the rate of one share for every 15 paid shares representing 6.67% of the issued capital. After the Ordinary General Meeting, an Extraordinary General Meeting was convened that approved increasing the issued and paid up capital by transferring US$46.5 million from the issue premium to the capital and to issue against this amount bonus shares to the shareholders registered at the date of Meeting at the rate of one share for every 15 shares held. Immediately after the end of the General Meeting of the shareholders, the Group’s Board of Directors held a Board Meeting to implement the recommendations and resolutions of the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Meetings. In the light of these results, Shaikh Saleh Abdulla Kamel, Chairman of ABG said that the Group continued its strong performance during 2008, which witnessed significant enhancements to the financial, human and technological resources in accordance with unified and coordinated plans and strategies for the Group and its subsidiary units and which enabled us achieve strong growth in earnings and income-generating assets. All of our subsidiary banks, with no exception, contributed to achieving this growth after we enhanced their capital resources, restructured certain banking units and activities, expanded our geographical presence and introduced many modern banking technologies.
Abdulla Al Saudi, Deputy Chairman of ABG, who also chaired the Ordinary and Extra Ordinary General Meetings, said that “We are pleased to see the Group’s ability to continue build on the remarkable successes it achieved through achieving excellent profits, whilst at the same time continues its persistent efforts to implement its ambitious plans for expanding its operations and activities in its existing markets and the markets that it plans to enter into “. Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Member of the Board of Directors and President and Chief Executive of ABG, said that the excellent financial results achieved by the Group in 2008 were the early fruit of the Group’s new five-year strategy for the years 2008-2012 which based on a number of objectives, programs and initiatives and aims to achieve a strong growth in earnings and in all areas of our operations, taking advantage of the Group’s depth of geographical presence, thorough knowledge of Islamic markets and banking products, financial strength and a wide branch network which is the largest amongst Islamic banking institutions. Yousif added that “Year 2008 was full of outstanding achievements and initiatives that translated this strategy to real successes on the ground despite the severe negative developments that the international markets went through and the slowing down of the performance of the global economy. This once more proves the ability of Al Baraka Banking Group to overcome the adverse effects of such developments and achieve good positive results”.
The financial results of the Group for the year 2008 show that the Group achieved a big increase of 37.1% in net profit (before accounting for the extraordinary profits from the IPO of the Group’s unit in Turkey in 2008), in spite of the financial crisis and economic stagnation that hit world economies during the last few months of 2008. This increase reflects the noticeable improvements seen in all sources of income, which raised the net operating income to 45.5% while continuing to achieve growth in assets by 8.1%, deposits and investment accounts by 9.7% and financing and investment operations by 9.5%, according to a statement issued by the Group today on its financial results for the year 2008. The financial results show that the Group’s operating income in 2008 increased to US$585.87 million, compared to US$444.45 million in 2007, reflecting an increase of US$141.42 million or 31.8% in 2008. All the components of these profits registered noticeable increases especially the income from joint finance and investment activities, fees and commissions. After deducting all the expenses, the total net income amounted to US$201 million in 2008, reflecting an increase of 37.1% over the income in 2007 after excluding the effect of the extraordinary profit arising from the IPO of the Group’s unit in Turkey from the profits of 2007. These excellent results led to improvements in the returns on average equity and on average assets to reach 13% and 1.9% respectively in 2008. Similarly, all items of the balance sheet showed significant growth during 2008, especially those related to core financing and investment activities. Total assets increased to US$10.92 billion as at the end of 2008 compared to US$10.10 billion in 2007, an increase of US$816 million or 8.1%. This growth was a reflection of the increase in financing operations, Mudaraba, Musharaka, Ijarah and investments which increased in total by 9.5% to reach US$8.09 billion in total in 2008. While, customer deposits registered a noticeable increase of US$788 million or 9.7% in line with the growth in assets, to reach US$8.87 billion as at the end of 2008, which reflects an increasing level of customer confidence and loyalty to the Group. As for shareholders equity, it amounted to US$1.55 billion as at the end of 2008.
