Ithmaar Bank reports USD125.6 million in profits

MANAMA, BAHRAIN – 9 November 2008 – Ithmaar Bank, a Bahrain-based investment bank with global reach, announced that it had made USD125.6 million in consolidated profits for the nine month period ended 30 September 2008 – more than sixty percent increase over profits reported during the same period last year. The interim results also show significant increases in the Bank’s operating income, its total assets and its funds under management.

“Our operating income has increased significantly during the nine month period ended 30 September 2008,” said Ithmaar Bank CEO and Member of the Board, Michael P. Lee. “The operating income during the current period was USD254.1 million – an increase of more than 45 percent over our corresponding 2007 performance,” he said.

“The results also show a 30 percent increase in the Bank’s Consolidated Total assets, which grew from USD4.1 billion, as at 31 December 2007, to USD5.3 billion, as at 30 September 2008,” said Lee. “Total funds under management also increased from USD1.7 billion, as at 31 December 2007, to USD2.1 billion, as at 30 September 2008 – an increase of more than 23 percent,” he said.

“Despite the third quarter USD16.3 million deficit, we concluded the period with USD125.6 million in consolidated profits,” said Lee. “This achievement is testimony to our stability, our resilience and, perhaps most importantly, our ability to recognise and seize opportunities,” he said.

“While the Ithmaar banking group has had no direct exposure to United States' sub-prime loans, the consequential impact of the sub-prime crisis on general confidence in the global real economy during the third quarter created especially difficult conditions in some of the overseas markets in which the group operates,” said Lee. “Management is responding to the challenges of the current global recessionary environment, while continuing to proceed with our strategic development of the group, thereby enhancing the prospects for continued profitable expansion as we have witnessed over the last year, taken as a whole,” he said.

 “In the past nine months, we announced major initiatives,” said Ithmaar Bank Co-CEO and Member of The Board, Mohamed Hussain. “Our development arm, the Ithmaar Development Company (IDC), for example, announced that its flagship development, Dilmunia, was fast taking shape,” he said.

“Together with key founder shareholders, we have also announced plans to establish Naseej (as a closed company), the region’s first fully integrated real estate and infrastructure solutions provider,” said Hussain. “Naseej will, among its other objectives, contribute directly, to addressing one of the Kingdom’s most pressing socio-economic challenges, that of affordable housing,” he said.

“Earlier, in August, we created an alliance with Gulf Finance House and Abu Dhabi Investment House, and together announced three visionary new initiatives,” said Hussain. “The Vision 3 initiatives consist of InfraCapital, the GCC’s first investment bank specialising in the provision of tailored infrastructure development and finance, and AgriCap , a new investment vehicle focused entirely on serving agricultural ventures and communities, as well as the Hospitality Development Fund,” he said.