Kuwait Finance House (KFH) reported an 11.5 per cent surge in full year net profit as financing and investments income rose while expenses fell for the sharia-compliant lender.
Net profit attributable to shareholders for the period ending 31 December reached 184.2 million Kuwaiti dinars (US$614.31m), up from 165.23m dinars, the company on Sunday said in a statement to Boursa Kuwait, where its shares are traded. The lender has recommended 17 fils per share cash dividend and 10 bonus shares for every 100 held as stock dividend for 2017.
KHF, the first Islamic financial institution to be established in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf state attributed the rise in profitability to an increase in operating income as “net financing income, fees and commission income, investment and other income” rose. General administrative expenses declined by 3.8m dinars, a 3.1 per cent year-on-year drop, however, the staff cost recorded a net increase of 8 per cent.
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“The increase is mainly due to the effect of the amendments to Kuwait labour law during the year, which resulted in additional liability for employees’ end-of-service benefits amounting to 17.6m dinars,” KFH noted, adding that the provisions and impairments last year also climbed by 4 per cent to 6.2m dinars.
The lender said its net assets at the end of 2017 rose by 5.2 per cent to reach 16.5 billion dinars, while the its total liabilities in 2017 rose by 5.4 per cent to 14.46bn dinars.
KFH net profit for the first nine-month period also recorded a 12 per cent year-on-year jump on the back of reduction in the cost of operations, it said in October.
Net profit reached 137.9m dinars, which compare with 123.1m dinars reported at the end of the same period in 2016. Total operating expenses for the bank fell 3.5 per cent, it said in a regulatory filing at the time.
