Doha: Ahli Bank QSC (ABQK) has recorded a net profit of QR 675.2m for the year ended 2019 with an increase of 1.5 percent over 2018.
The bank’s balance sheet grew by 8.7 percent over December 2018 to QR43.91bn. Loans and Advances increased by 14.8 percent over December 2019, while Investment Securities grew by 27.1 percent over December 2019.
Customer Deposits increased by 17.2 percent over December 2019, and Cost to Income Ratio for 2019 improved to 27.3 percent from 28.1 percent in 2018, reflecting efficient management of the Bank’s operations.
The Return on Average Assets (ROAA) and Return on Average Equity (ROAE) stood steady at 1.7 percent and 11.9 percent respectively, despite an increase in balance sheet size and equity base.
Total Capital Adequacy Ratio as of December 2019 stood at a healthy 17.1 percent, reflecting strong capital position of the bank.
Commenting on the results, Ahlibank Chairman and Managing Director Sheikh Faisal bin AbdulAziz bin Jassem Al Thani, said: “We are very pleased with our performance for this year, as the key growth drivers were positively reflected in the overall business growth. The bank has successfully met one of its key strategic objectives of improving stable funding by completing the third bond issuance for $500m under its $1.5bn EMTN Programme in the International Debt Capital markets. The issue was oversubscribed by more than three times with orders from more than 85 investors from Asia, Mena and Europe. This demonstrates the continued vote of confidence from international investors in both Qatar and Ahlibank.”
”As a further testimony to our performance, Ahlibank continues to enjoy higher Credit Ratings A2/P1 from Moodys and is the second highest rated conventional bank in Qatar after QNB. Fitch Ratings has also affirmed Ahlibank’s Long Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘A’.”
The Board of Directors of Ahlibank has proposed a cash dividend of 15 percent (QR0.15 per share) and a bonus share of 5 percent (1 new share for every 20 shares held) as the dividend distribution for the year 2019. The dividend proposal takes into account maximisation of shareholders’ wealth, the bank’s internal capital requirements, liquidity and balance sheet growth projections.
These results are subject to the final approval of the Qatar Central Bank and the shareholders in the General Assembly.
Source from: The Peninsula