Chairman of Kuwait International Bank (KIB) Sheikh Mohammed Al-Sabah announced that the bank achieved about four million Kuwaiti dinars in profits for the first quarter (Q1) of 2012 compared to three million dinars in Q1 last year, with a 34 percent growth rate. He added that the bank's investments during Q1 of this year were positively reflected on the total operational revenues, where the bank achieved KD 10.1 growth in this quarter compared to KD 9.7 million for Q1 last year, with four percent growth rate. In a press statement, he explained that the profits reinforced the value of shareholders' equity to reach KD 206.8 million compared to KD 198.8 during the same period last year. He asserted that such positive results during the first three months are the fruits of the hard work of the employees who worked relentlessly to increase operational profit and lower cost of financing.
Al-Sabah stressed that the bank's executive management that is spearheaded by Acting chief executive officer (CEO) Loay Makames highlights the level of quality of operations, where it carefully selected financing operations to limit risks.
The value of net financing assets reached KD 712 million by the end of Q1 this year compared to KD 703 last year. In addition, the total value of assets increased in Q1 to reach KD 1.17 billion with a 4 percent increase. Deposits accounts increased in value to reach KD 743 million in March 2012 after the value was KD 688 million by end of Q1 of 2011. Average rate for shareholders' equity reached 7.76 percent, while earnings per share reached 4.3 Kuwaiti fils compared to 3.22 fils by end of Q1 last year.
Moreover, he revealed that since the bank plans to cement its financial status and increase its profits, it will open more branches this year, in order to geographically spread throughout Kuwait.
-Al Watan-
