Dunia Finance, a leading UAE based finance company, has posted a net profit of Dh82.6 million ($22.486 million) for the six month period ending June 30, up 49 per cent from Dh55.6 million for the same period last year.

The company saw revenues of Dh225.7 million, up 36 per cent from Dh166.4 million. Expenses grew at only 15 per cent during the same period at Dh79.6 million versus Dh69.1 million in the prior year.

Dunia’s customer-centric strategy drove continued success over the first half, with 20 per cent growth in customer numbers to 150,400. Customer deposits increased 42 per cent to Dh620.9 million ($169.02 million), which compares to deposits of Dh436.7 million in H1 2013.

New customer acquisition, alongside a deepening of relationships with existing customers, helped Dunia deliver strong top line revenue and income growth.

Dunia’s balance sheet was further strengthened over the period. The company saw a rapid growth of 44 per cent in total customer asset and liability footings, which reached Dh1,854 million as of 30 June, up from Dh1,287 million at the same time last year.

The company continues with its sustainable, prudent approach to future growth, allowing for greater predictability in Dunia’s operational profitability. The approach involves a combination of paced top line revenue development and strategic management of costs, it said.

The company announced an interim dividend of Dh24 per share. This interim dividend amount is 50 per cent higher than the interim dividend declared in 2013 reflecting both its strong financial results, continually improving capital base and confidence of continued strong results in the remainder of 2014.

Dunia chairman Salem Rashid Al Noaimi said: "Dunia’s strong growth momentum in the first half of 2014 as in previous years, once again endorses our business approach of ensuring a focus on our customers evolving needs. We are delighted with the performance of Dunia. Our commitment to helping our customers stay ahead as they use our services, drives us to continuously invest in enhancing the customer experience through world class service and continous innovation. We will continue to provide such value to our customers and all our stakeholders, while creating an institution that is admired by all constituents across a broad array of metrics.”

Rajeev Kakar, managing director and CEO, said: “The 2014 first half performance has been incredibly satisfying, not only because of our strong positive growth in top-line and bottom-line numbers while ensuring extremely healthy growth on financial ratios like return on assets and return on equity, but also because our customers once again positively endorsed us for delivering strongly on key service satisfaction and value metrics. It is this continuous track record of predictably delivering strongly against customer experience expectations and on shareholder expectations that allows us to continuously invest further in enhancing our value-based services and products to customers."
 
Dunia was created out of a strategic partnership between leading investors: Fullerton Financial Holdings of Singapore, Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi, Waha Capital and A A Al Moosa. - TradeArabia News Service