Manama, Bahrain: ABC Islamic Bank today announced a net profit of US$1.6 million for the first quarter of 2012. A higher net profit of US$3 million for the first quarter of last year was mainly due to a one-off revenue item of US$1.3 million, which indicates that on a comparable basis, net profit had been steady.

It is to be noted that a conservative higher provision of US$0.5 million related to an old impaired asset in Saudi Arabia also contributed to the lower net profit figure for the first quarter. For the same reason, total operating income for the first quarter was US$3.4 million, came lower than US$4.8 million for the first quarter of last year. Conversely, our operating expenses decreased to US$1.3 million compared to US$1.8 million for the same quarter of last year.

Shareholders’ equity at 31 March 2012 stood at US$229.3 million, compared to US$227.7 million at 2011 year-end. The bank’s capital base remains very strong with a capital adequacy ratio of 28.0%, predominantly Tier 1, which totalled 27.8%.

Commenting on the results, Mr. Naveed Khan, Managing Director of ABC Islamic Bank said, “We have now reached desired levels of Balance Sheet size, where we aspire to see growth in line with the region. Legacy provisioning aside, core profitability of the bank is on an upward positive trend along-with improved cost efficiency. Business volumes are also showing signs of improvement across the region.”