Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank (AUB) said its first half profit for the year jumped 19 per cent to $161.7 million compared to $135.9 million during the same period in 2010.

Commenting on the results, AUB chairman Fahad Al Rajaan, said, 'AUB's strong performance in the first half of the year, against the backdrop of unsettled regional political and economic conditions, is very satisfactory.'

'The capital infusion by IFC Capitalisation Funds in April, following execution of landmark deals in March is another testimony to AUB's strong fundamentals and credentials as a major regional banking institution,' Rajaan noted.

He said the results were made possible by strong support from AUB's stakeholders, which was further evidenced by capital funding from International Finance Corporation (IFC), the IFC Capitalisation Equity and Debt Funds during the period.

IFC Capitalisation Funds provided AUB with $125 million new Tier I qualifying equity and $165 million Tier II qualifying subordinated debt.

An agreement was also executed with IFC to extend the maturity date of its existing Tier II $200m subordinated debt from December 2016 to December 2018, thereby increasing its capital effectiveness for AUB.

The bank's basic earnings per share were 3.3 cents, compared to 2.8 cents last time. Net profit was 20.2 per cent higher at $84.4 million compared to $70.2 million for the same period last year.

Net interest income increased by 16.8 per cent from $239.2 million to $279.5 million.

AUB's major associate banks in Qatar and Oman continued their strong performance in 2011 resulting in AUB's share of profits from associates increasing to $31.2 million from $23.6 million.

The overall cost income ratio improved to 31 per cent from 32.4 per cent.

Non-performing loans remained stable at 2.4 per cent.

Provision coverage increased to 128 per cent, including collective impairment provision, compared to 106 per cent as of June 30 last year.

The group's return on average equity stood at 13.3 per cent compared to 12.3 per cent last time. Return on average assets also improved to 1.3 per cent from 1.2 per cent.

Group total assets grew by 4.1 per cent to $27.6 billion from $26.5 billion at the year end, attributable mainly to additional customer deposits and prudent deployment of assets with a focus on maintenance of solid liquidity given the prevailing regional business climate.-TradeArabia News Service