Finance House H1 profit Increases 8.3% to Dh61.2m

Finance House (FH) has registered a robust consolidated net-profit of Dh61.2 Million for the six months ended 30 June 2014, an increase of 8.3% compared to Dh56.5 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Net fee and commission income grew by a whopping 75% to reach Dh35.8 Million compared to Dh20.5 million in the first half of the previous year. Similarly, income from investing activities nearly doubled to Dh65.4 million in first half 2014 compared to Dh33.6 million in the same period last year, on the back of improved performance of UAE stocks.

Net interest income and income from Islamic financing and investing assets was marginally lower at Dh63.7 million compared to Dh66.9 million in the same period last year, primarily on account of significantly lower interest rates on short term money market placements with local banks.

As a combined result of the above, Total operating Income for the half year ended 30 June 2014 jumped nearly 30% to Dh160.3 million compared to Dh123.5 million in the same period of the previous year. Due to continued expansion in business activities of the Group, Total Operating Expenses were higher at Dh80.8 million compared to Dh58.6 million in the same period last year. In line with its conservative approach towards impairment provisioning, FH has set aside additional impairment provision of Dh18.3 million in the first half of 2014 compared to Dh8.4 million in the same period last year.

Total assets grew by an impressive 26.9% YOY to reach Dh4.50 billion as of 30 June 2014 compared to Dh3.55 billion at the same time last year. Customers’ deposits grew by a whopping 50.5% YOY to reach an all-time high of Dh2.66 billion as of 30 June 2014 compared to Dh1.77 billion at the same time last year. Net loans and advances including Islamic financing and investing assets grew by a robust 13.6% YOY to reach Dh1.73 billion as of 30 June 2014, compared to Dh1.52 Billion at the same time last year. The resultant Loans to Deposits ratio as of 30 June 2014 stood at 65%, leaving ample room for growth in lending book in the near term.

Shareholders’ Equity as at 30 June 2014 stood at a healthy Dh703.9 million compared to Dh677.6 million at the same time last year. This is after distributing a generous cash dividend of 25% in April 2014, amounting to Dh75.6 million for the year ended 31 December 2013.

Mohammed Abdulla Alqubaisi, Chairman of Finance House said: “The stable economic environment in the UAE has allowed us to focus on our core engines of growth which are commercial and consumer lending and proprietary investments. Our strategy of continuously seeking and addressing profitable & underserved niche segments has enabled us to generate healthy returns for our shareholders on a sustained basis. We are confident that this strategy will continue to serve us well in the near future as well.”

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