Middle East ETF News Older than One Year
Batelco net income hit by competition, charges
January 22,2013--Bahrain's Batelco has reported its 10th profit decline in 11 quarters, as domestic competition and one-off charges from a cost-cutting programme hurt the bottom line, Reuters has reported.
The firm made a net profit of BD17.75m ($47.1m) in the three months to December 31, down from BD23.5m in the year-earlier period. Batelco's fourth-quarter revenue was KD77.16m, compared with BD81.5m a year ago, Batelco said. "Beyond aggressive competition in the Bahrain market and elsewhere in the region, our results for 2012 were also impacted by a number of one off charges including expenses associated with an extensive restructuring and cost rationalisation programme at our Bahrain operations," said chairman Sheikh Hamad al-Khalifa.
Source: AME Info
Bahrain insurance market up 9% in Q3 2012
January 22, 2013--Bahraini central bank has said the kingdom's insurance market has witnessed a 9% year-on-year increase in its gross premiums during the third quarter of 2012 to BD184.11m ($480.6m) by the end of September 2012.
The rise was mainly due to a surge in long-term insurance (Life & Savings Products), registering around 17% increase in gross premiums to reach BD42.34m in September 2012 from BD36.06m the previous year, representing almost 23% of the gross premiums written in September 2012, the central bank said.
Source: AME Info
NBK shares end flat amid bank's stable net profit
January 22, 2013--The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) Market Index hit a 7-month high Tuesday as the gauge ended up 0.30% at 6,191.21 points, The country's largest lender National Bank of Kuwait, known as NBK, ended even at KD0.970.
On Monday, NBK said net earnings in 2012 reached $1,085m (KD305.1m) compared with $1,075m (KD302.4m) for 2011. Ibrahim Dabdoub, NBK's Group Chief Executive Officer said "NBK managed to deliver a strong set of results for the year notwithstanding the ongoing challenges". Dabdoub will speak this week at the annual World Economic Forum 2013 in Davos, Switzerland, on prospects in the Middle East after the Arab Spring.
Source: AME Info
Tadawul closes 007 points above key support/resistance
January 22, 2013--The Saudi Stock Exchange's lead index TASI closed Tuesday trading 0.33% higher at 7,007.61 points.
Shares of telecom firm Etihad Etisalat, known as Mobily, gained 2.74% to reach SR75. Earlier today, Mobily invited the shareholders to attend its ordinary general meeting scheduled to take place on Tuesday, dated 19 Feb. 2013. Saudi Real Estate Co. gained the most (up 9.86% at SR32.30). According to German chemistry and adhesion giant Henkel, KSA has a housing gap of 5 million homes.
Source: AME Info
Omani market unimpressed by National Bank of Oman's profit rise
January 22, 2013--The MSM 30-Index in Muscat closed 0.13% higher at 5,837.16 points Tuesday.
National Bank of Oman or NBO ended flat at OR0.30. On Monday, the lender said its full-year net profit for 2012 rose 19% on the back of good growth in assets and low-cost deposits, Muscat Daily has reported. Net income climbed to OR40.7m last year from OR34.2m in 2011, the bank said. Total assets increased 14% to OR2.54bn, compared with OR2.23bn a year ago. Operating expenses increased by 7% to OR46.7m in 2012, the lender said.
Source: AME Info
Tadawul bourse loses one percent, insurers buck downtrend
January 21, 2013--The Tadawul All-Share Index fell to a three-week low to close at 6,984.8 points Monday.
Market breadth ended deeply in the red as 33 shares advanced while 103 declined. All sector indices lost value with the exception of the insurance segment. SABIC lost half a percentage point, ending at SR92.75. Company for Cooperative Insurance or Tawuniya (Arabic for co-operative) added 0.22% to reach SR46.50. Earlier in the day, Tawuniya said the net profit before Zakat for the 12 months was SR351.5m compared to SR473.9m for the same period previous year, a decrease of 25.8%.
Source: AME Info
National Bank of Bahrain gains as net profit increases slightly
January 21, 2013--In Manama, the Bahrain All-Share Index fell 0.61% to 1,074.17 points.
Arab Banking Corp. or ABC (off 9.78%) and Bahrain Telecom (one percent lower) dragged the gauge down. National Bank of Bahrain, known and branded as NBB, bucked the trend by closing 3.77% higher at BD0.55. Earlier in the day, NBB said the net profit for 2012 was BD47.50m ($126.33m), representing an increase of 4.1% over 2011. The board of directors proposed a dividend of 35% (25% cash plus 10% stock) compared to 30% in 2011. NBB's Q4 profit surged 8.1% year-o-year. NBB said that "strong growth in revenue and careful expense management resulted in an operating profit before provisions of BD59.27m ($157.62m) for 2012, an increase of 11.2 % over 2011."
Source: AME Info
QIB shares dive, bank reports lower net profit
January 21, 2013--The Doha-based QE 20 Index finished Monday trading 0.20% lower at 8,608.05 points.
Qatar Islamic Bank or QIB plummeted 4.63% to hit QR72.10 points. Earlier in the day, QIB said the preliminary financials for the year 2012 revealed a net profit of QR1.24bn, down from QR1.36bn in 2011. Total assets of the bank increased by 25.6% year-on-year, amounting to QR73.2bn. On Jan. 1 2012, the Qatar Central Bank banned Islamic windows at conventional banks in the Gulf state, triggering a flow od Shari'ah-compliant assets from conventional to Islamic banks last year. The QIB board of directors proposed a 37.5% profit distribution to shareholders, subject to the approval of the Qatar Central Bank and to be discussed in the next meeting of QIB general assembly.
Source: AME Info
Aldar, Sorouh move in opposite directions after ok-ing merger
January 21, 2013--The Abu Dhabi equity index ADXGI slipped 0.14% to 2,778.08 points.
Sorouh Real Estate surged 4.29 percent to hit Dhs1.70, while the UAE capital's first developer Aldar Properties dived 9.82% to Dhs1.47. Earlier in the day, both firms said their board of directors decided to recommend the shareholders to give green light for proposed merger which would create a real estate giant worth around Dhs50bn. Aldar and Sorouh, developers of Ferrari World on Yas Island and residence complex Shams Abu Dhabi for 45,000 residents, respectively, entered into merger talks in March 2012. Under the plan, Sorouh would de-list its shares from the ADX while Aldar will offer 1.288 of its shares for each Sorouh share. The merger is subject to approval from the Abu Dhabi government which holds 38% in Aldar through direct and indirect holdings.
Source: AME Info
Dubai market rally halted
January 21, 2013--After the DFM General Index hit a nearly three-year high yesterday, the gauge retreated Monday by 0.29% to close at 1,786.46 points.
Arabtec Construction fell 1.44% to Dhs2.73, while district-cooling energy producer Tabreed dived 4.14% to Dhs1.62. Emaar Properties, the UAE's first developer, showed resilience, closing 2.10% higher at Dhs4.39. Some 223m shares were traded, valued at Dhs305m.
Source: AME Info
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