SIB proposes 10% dividend as profit up

Sharjah - The bank's total operating income reached at Dh1.3 billion in 2015 compared to Dh1.1 billion in 2014, reflecting an increase of 15.5 per cent.

Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) on Wednesday said its 2015 net profit rose nine per cent to Dh409.9 million from Dh377.2 million in the same corresponding period. The board of directors propose 10 per cent cash dividend for shareholders. 
The bank's total operating income reached at Dh1.3 billion in 2015 compared to Dh1.1 billion in 2014, reflecting an increase of 15.5 per cent. The bank's other income from commissions, investments, subsidiaries and other operating revenues increased by 39.3 per cent to reach Dh692.2 million last year compared to Dh497.2 million in 2014. 
The balance sheet reflects the bank's strong performance as its total assets climbed 14.9 per cent at Dh29.9 billion at the end of December 2015 compared to Dh26 billion at the end of 2014. The bank's liquid assets reached at Dh6.9 billion, or 23.1 per cent of total assets, at the end of December 2015. 
Mohammed Abdullah, chief executive of SIB, said that these results reflect the success of the group's strategy to achieve steady and stable growth across all operations despite the volatility in global and domestic markets. 
The bank continued to provide financing facilities to large companies and SME'S in different economic sectors. Financing facilities reached at Dh16.4 billion, an increase of Dh1.9 billion, or 13 per cent, compared to Dh14.5 billion in 2014. 
The bank further said it attracted more deposits during the year as customer deposits reached Dh17 billion growing by Dh2.4 billion, or 16.2 per cent. 
During 2015, the bank also issued a $500 million five-year sukuk as part of its $3 billion medium-term notes sukuk programme. This is SIB's fourth sukuk issuance since 2006 supporting its strategic objectives to diversify sources of funding. 
The bank said its provisioning net of recoveries reached at Dh350 million compared to Dh246.5 million in 2014, showing an increase of 42 per cent. The 2015 provisions include Dh205 million specific provisions on non-performing customers and Dh153 million in general provisions equivalent to 1.54 per cent of total customer risk weighted assets, above the central bank requirement of 1.5 per cent. 
- muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com