Arab Financial Services Company (AFS), a leading provider of electronic-payments and consumer finance-outsourcing services in the region, has registered a 275 per cent growth in its annual profit which soared to $4.3 million.

The company said that this was achieved on a gross revenue of $17.4 million, up 16 per cent year-on-year, noting that its core card processing business also grew by 16 per cent to $15.8 million.

The results were presented at the company’s 25th annual general meeting on Sunday. An impressed AFS board declared a dividend of  $0.47 per share for the year 2009.

The net profit figures mark a substantial surge compared to 2008, however company officials reminded that 2008’s annual net return of $1.1m was an all-time low and a direct result of the global downturn.

AFS chairman Hassan Juma said the excellent 2009 results were brought about by a focus on the core business offering, the customer and an appreciation of the role of information technology.

“In 2009, we continued to concentrate on achieving our aspiration of becoming the provider of choice for payment card processing in the region as we have done since 1984, and as we will do for the next 25 years,' Juma remarked.

'This on-going focus has enabled us to successfully deliver an excellent set of results and to make significant progress towards our strategic objectives,” he added.

The company’s CEO, Shankar Sharma, also acknowledged that continuous investment in technology and in the people was key and it played a significant role in the sound results for 2009.

“AFS has successfully delivered against its 2009 growth strategy to achieve an excellent set of results, with profit and revenue rising significantly. This represents a positive endorsement of our strong focus on remaining close to our customers’ needs and continued risk-averse investment policy” Sharma added.-TradeArabia News Service