1st Quarter Results

BankMuscat posts RO 27.8 million Q1 net profit

MUSCAT, 14 April 2011: BankMuscat, the leading financial services provider in the Sultanate, on Thursday announced its Q1'11 preliminary results. The Bank posted net profit of RO 27.8 million for the three months ended 31 March 2011 compared to RO 24.5 million reported during the same period in 2010, an increase of 13.5%.

The key highlights of Q1'11 results are as follows:

1) Net interest income increased by 20.9 per cent to RO 53.7 million during the three months period ended 31 March 2011 from RO 44.4 million reported during the corresponding period in 2010. The increase in net interest income was primarily due to improvement in net interest margin.

2) Non-interest income at RO 22.6 million was higher by 30.6 per cent compared to RO 17.3 million in Q1'10.

3) Operating expenses for Q1'11 at RO 31.5 million increased by 28 per cent as compared to the same period in 2010. Increase in operating expenses is attributable to higher manpower cost and operating expenses related to investment in facilities, which would enhance the working environment for staff, thus enabling the Bank to provide better customer services.

4) Impairment for credit losses for the three-month period in 2011 was RO 13.5 million as against RO 11.8 million in Q1'10.

5) Gross loans and advances increased by 4.1 per cent to RO 4,197 million as against RO 4,032 million in Q1'10.

6) Customer deposits, including CDs, increased by 4.4 per cent to RO 3,787 million as against RO 3,627 million in Q1'10.

Amounts in RO millions

The results are subject to the approval of Board of Directors. The Bank will release the final results along with the complete set of financial statements for the three-month period ended 31 March 2011 after the necessary approval by the Board of Directors in the last week of April 2011.

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