Bahrain – Al Salam Bank, a leading regional Islamic bank headquartered in Bahrain, posted a 7% rise in Q1 net profit attributable to shareholders to BD6.5 million ($17.3 million) compared to BD6.1 million for Q1 2021.
The increase reflects an overall improvement in macroeconomic conditions. Correspondingly, earnings per share increased by 12% to 2.8 fils compared to 2.5 fils in Q1 2021.
Total operating income for the quarter stood at BD26.0 million, reflecting a 7% decrease from the BD28.0 million recorded in first quarter of 2021. Total shareholders’ equity decreased by 2% from BD296.3 million in 2021 to BD290.2 million at the end of March 2022, as a result of dividends distribution.
Total assets remained largely unchanged at BD2.7 billion in March 2022, while financing assets increased by 3% on a quarter-on-quarter basis to a record BD1.4 billion, the highest since the bank’s establishment. The growth was accompanied with a robust improvement in asset quality during the first quarter of 2022, with the nonperforming facilities ratio decreasing to 2.07%, driven by effective recovery initiatives and quality new asset bookings.
The bank’s sukuk portfolio also increased by 5% to BD672 million in March 2022. The bank continued to maintain a strong capital adequacy ratio of 26.9% as of March 31, 2022.
“We have continued with our strong performance in 2021 and made a robust start to 2022 despite continued economic uncertainty and volatility globally,” said Shaikh Khalid bin Mustahil Al Mashani, the Chairman of Al Salam Bank.—Zawya News
