17 July 2007
Dubai: Lack of initial public offerings (IPOs) has pulled the first half net profits of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) down by 18.5 per cent to Dh976 million from Dh1.19 billion for the same period last year, a company statement said yesterday.
On a quarterly basis profits declined by 12 per cent to Dh506 million, compared to Dh575 million for the second quarter of 2006.
ADCB had significant contributions from IPOs in the first half of 2006 which added Dh393 million to profits in the first six months of the prior year.
"After making adjustments to the prior year results for income from IPO's, the underlying profits for the bank in the past six months have increased by 21 per cent, from Dh805 million to Dh976 million," it said.
Eirvin Knox, chief executive of ADCB, attributed the 22 per cent growth in underlying profits to improvements in all businesses lines of the bank and particularly strong growth in project finance, treasury and investment banking. All segments of the consumer banking performed well with customer acquisition for deposits, credit cards, and personal loans particularly strong.
The project finance and investment banking teams of ADCB concluded more than 20 syndicated loans in the first half of 2007 as mandated lead arranger and underwriter to support the development of infrastructure and projects in Abu Dhabi, including deals for Etihad, Aldar, Industrial City of Abu Dhabi and several others.
Saeed Al Hajeri, chairman of ADCB said, "ADCB achieved these strong results while continuing the bank's commitment to the local communities in which we operate by adding 132 local nationals to the staff of ADCB, exceeding our targets for Emiratisation which now stands at 23 per cent."
Fact file: Total assets increase by 18% to Dh96b
- Operating profit for the first half of 2007 rises to Dh1.47 billion, a seven per cent increase over 2006, after adjusting for revenue from IPO's in 2006.
- Total assets increase by 18 per cent from Dh81 billion to Dh96 billion during the first half.
- Deposits grow by 12 per cent to Dh48.5 billion from Dh43.4 billion at year end.
- Advances increase to Dh67.8 billion from Dh62.4 billion over the six month period, registering a 9 per cent growth.
By Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.
