National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) today announced net profits of AED169 million for the nine month period ended September 30th 2006, up 37.7 percent from AED123 million in the corresponding period last year. NBF’s financial statements consolidate results of its subsidiaries, NBF Financial Services and NBF Securities LLC.
“NBF continues to post strong results despite the pressure on investment income. Net interest income rose by 46 percent over the corresponding nine months period ended 30 September 2005 on the back of strong growth in volumes which helped our interim performance,” said Asad Ahmed, General Manager, NBF. “Average assets and liabilities have grown by 33 percent and 34 percent to AED6.60 billion and AED5.24 billion respectively over corresponding period.”
“Third quarter performance, driven by strong and sustainable growth in core business activities” despite being impacted by investment income, registered a net profit growth of 34 percent,” he continued.
NBF continues to focus on elevating the flexibility and scalability of the organization to introduce new products and to take customer service offerings to new levels. The ‘Core Banking Migration’ project initiated last quarter is planned to ‘go live’ in the second quarter of 2007. And as part of its ‘retail banking’ strategy, the Bank is planning to implement business process management solutions to further enhance operational efficiencies and service levels.
Earnings per share increased to AED0.17 as opposed to AED0.14 for corresponding nine months of 2005 which have been restated to reflect the bonus issue and share split during 2006. Return on average equity rose from 16.21 percent in September 2005 to 17.40 percent in September 2006 while return on average assets stood at 3.57 percent as opposed to 3.51 percent for the same periods. Total shareholders’ equity as of 30 September 2006 stood at AED1.508 billion and the Bank’s capital adequacy ratio at period end remained healthy with the BIS ratio standing at 21.63 percent against the Central Bank minimum of 10 percent.
General and administrative expenses increased by 12 percent mainly on account of employee related cost, due to the growing number of employees and the strengthening of management structures in line with the bank’s aggressive growth plans. Cost to income ratio improved to 28 percent as compared to 32 percent for the same period in 2005.
About NBF:
National Bank of Fujairah was established in 1982 in the Emirate of Fujairah. Its key shareholders include the government of Fujairah (39%) and the government of Dubai (10%). It is primarily a corporate bank with strong trade finance expertise, some limited retail banking activities and growing businesses in investment services and small business financing. National Bank of Fujairah intends to deepen its product range over the next few years by selectively expanding its retail banking services while continuing to build its core corporate banking services. The existing branch network is set to increase from the current six branches to up to 12 by the end of the year.
