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Gulf Finance House reports strong second-quarter 2007 results

MANAMA — Gulf Finance House yesterday announced its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2007, reporting a net profit of $73.6 million, a 24 per cent increase over the $59.5 million net profit reported for the corresponding period last year.

Earnings per share for the second quarter 2007 were 10.55cents compared to 8.65 cents for end of June 2006. The net profit for the first half of 2007 totalled $ 145.9 million with a return on equity of 43 per cent and return on assets of 18 per cent.

Gross income rose by 35 per cent over last year, reflecting strong performance in both income from advisory services and sale of investment securities. Total assets increased to US$1.8 billion up 20 per cent from $1.5 billion at end of December 2006. This growth is largely attributable to the expansion of GFH's strategic investment portfolio which includes investments in Khaleeji Commercial Bank and QInvest in Qatar.

The strong results mark the end of a busy quarter that saw a number of milestones achieved. A major highlight saw H.E. the Prime Minister of Bahrain, Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, conduct the Official opening of the Bahrain Financial Harbour in May 2007, a landmark project financed and promoted by GFH. GFH also commenced the marketing of its private placement to raise $395 million to fund the infrastructure development of Energy City India.

GFH also increased its investment in its wholly owned subsidiary Khaleeji Commercial Bank by raising KHCB's capital to US$ 265 million, before selling a 30 per cent stake to a group of regional financial institutions. In the second quarter GFH also capitalised QInvest, one of the first Islamic investment banks to be launched in Qatar, taking a 15 per cent stake for 75 million.

GFH ended the quarter by completing the bank's US$ 275 million secondary listing of Global Depository Receipts (GDR) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) marking GFH as the first Islamic Bank in the Gulf to be listed on the LSE and the only business from the Gulf to be listed in London during the first half of 2007.

Commenting on the results, Dr. Fuad Al Omar, Chairman of GFH said: "The second quarter of 2007 will be seen in the future as a watershed in the history of GFH. In addition to the continuance of the previous trend of strong profits, the GFH GDR on the London Stock Exchange was well received and welcomed by the international investment community."

Elaborating on the bank's second quarter 2007 successes, Esam Janahi, CEO and Board Member of GFH said: "We look forward to delivering a very successful 2007 which will further enhance shareholder value and continue to build our franchise. The second half of the year will see announcements of more new development infrastructure projects as well as two major profitable exits for our clients."