(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) board is recommending a 40% dividend distribution to shareholders after posting record profit of BD43.02 million (114.41m) last year.
The distribution will be 30% in cash and 10% in bonus shares. The bank had a strong finish to the year with fourth quarter profit up 53.2% to BD8.99m compared with BD5.87m in the final quarter of the previous year, Bahrain news agency (BNA) reported.
The annual profit was struck after taking a voluntary loan provision of BD1.5m to strengthen its balance sheet, and compared to a net profit of BD42.82m in 2009.
During the year, the bank continued its policy of supporting initiatives aimed at developments in Bahrain and lead managed some important deals in client funding, both in the debt and equity markets besides expanding its retail presence," said chief executive officer and director Abdul Razak A Hassan Al Qassim.
The performance for the year is the result of the bank''s focus on maintaining asset quality, judicious deployment of available liquidity at best possible yields and efficiently managing the operating expenses," Al Qassim said.
Although there was no major deterioration in the asset quality, the bank on its own initiative decided to increase the level of general loan loss provisions in line with our prudent approach to risk, taking into account the difficulties in the overall external credit environment," he said.
The total balance sheet stood at BD2.27 billion at the year-end, compared to BD2.11bn a year before. Customers'' deposits at BD1.76bn showed a strong growth of 19.5% reflecting the success of deposit mobilisation initiatives and expansion of the distribution network within the kingdom.
The loans and advances portfolio stood at BD950.8m compared to BD1.15bn as some corporate loans were settled and certain regional exposures reduced while the bank disbursed new facilities that meet its well-established risk-reward criteria.
The capital adequacy ratio remained very strong at 22.9%. Liquidity continues to be comfortable with liquid assets representing 28.1% of the total.
Total shareholders'' equity before 2010 appropriations stands at BD262.97m. During the year, the bank disbursed BD8.8m for several worthy causes in the kingdom
