Al Salam Bank Bahrain said its net profit, for the nine month period ended September 30, 2008, jumped 30 per cent to BD22.7 million ($60.1 million) when compared to BD17.4 million ($46.2 million) for the corresponding period in 2007.

The earnings per share for the period were 18.9 fils against 14.5 fils for the corresponding period in 2007.

The results represent a quarterly net profit of BD7.4 million ($19.6 million) for the quarter ended  September 30 compared to BD3.3 million ($8.8 million), registering an increase of 120 per cent, in the corresponding quarter in 2007.

The total assets as of September 30 2008 grew by 50 per cent to reach BD595.6 million ($1,580 million) from BD398 million ($1,056 million) on December 31, 2007.

Despite the current crisis in the financial markets, the bank has managed to increase its customer deposits during the quarter from BD295 million ($783 million) at end of June 30 to BD329 million ($873 million) at end of September 30, a quarterly growth of 11 per cent reflecting the customers’ confidence in the bank.

Since December 31, 2007, the customer deposits has grown by BD197 million ($522 million) thus posting a growth of 150 per cent.

The bank’s gross operating income for the period amounted to BD32.7 million (US$86.8 million), compared to BD24.7 million (US$65.6 million) in corresponding period in 2007 and the net income represented a 19.1% annualized return on average shareholders’ equity.

Al Salam Bank Bahrain chairman Mohammed Alabbar said that considering the market conditions over the recent past, the bank had been pursuing an extremely cautious approach to building assets and has booked only regional exposures barring the three private equity transactions executed in South East Asia.

'Anticipating tight liquidity and credit environment, the asset liability management function at the bank had been conservative with a view to ensuring that adequate liquidity is maintained at all times,' explained Alabbar.

'This is evident from the fact that the liquidity ratio (cash and short term funds, less interbank liabilities, to customer liabilities) of the bank stood at a healthy 50 per cent and the management is working to further enhance the asset liability management.'

'Given the strong liquidity position and the current attractive asset valuations, the bank is positioning itself to pursue investment acquisitions with acceptable risk profile consistent with its commitment to offer attractive investment products to its client base,' he added.

Alabbar pointed out that the bank was poised to achieve or exceed the financial targets set by the board at beginning of the year for 2008 and the outlook for the future remains positive.-TradeArabia News Service