BankMuscat preliminary results for the year 2013

BankMuscat announces preliminary results for the year ended 31st December 2013

YTD Net Profit at RO 152.2 million

MUSCAT, 15 January 2014: Bank Muscat, the flagship financial institution in the Sultanate, announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2013. The Bank posted net profit of RO 152.2 million for the period, 9.3% higher than the profits of RO 139.2 million reported during the same period in 2012.

The key highlights of the results for the period are as follows:

1) Net interest income from conventional banking activities and Net Income from Islamic Financing stood at RO 235.3 million for the year 2013 compared to RO 230.4 million for the same period of 2012.

2) Other operating income at RO 104.8 million was higher by 12.4 per cent compared to RO 93.2 million for the year ended 31 December 2012.

3) Operating expenses for the year ended 31 December 2013 at RO 143.7 million as compared to RO 134.6 for the same period in 2012, increase of 6.7 per cent.

In relation to the exceptional operating loss provision that was considered in Q1 2013 for the Prepaid Travel Card fraud incident, the Bank's insurers have agreed to indemnify the bank's loss in the sum of RO 14.9 million. The bank has reversed the loss provision created in Q1 2013 towards this specific loss through its Q4, 2013 results.

4) Impairment for credit losses for 2013 was RO 50.5 million as against RO 57.9 million for the same period in 2012.

5) Recoveries from impairment for credit loss for the year 2013 was RO 32.5 million compared to RO 33.5 million for the same period last year.

6) Share of profit from associates for the period ended 31 December 2013 was RO 1.3 million against loss of RO 3.4 million for the same period in 2012.

7) Subsequent to the market disclosure on 10th November 2013, on the bank's exit from its associate investment in Mengal Keshav Securities Ltd, the Indian Securities firm through a share buyback by the company, the bank has considered during the year, an impairment of RO 2.7 million on the carrying value of Mengal Keshav Securities Ltd .

8) Net Loans and Islamic Financing increased by 9.7 per cent to RO 6,143 million as against RO 5,601 million as at 31 December 2012.

9) Customer deposits including CDs, increased by 5.9 per cent to RO 5,693 million as against RO 5,378 million as at 31 December 2012.

The full results of the year ended 31 December 2013 along with complete set of financial statements will be released after the approval of the Board of directors of the Bank at its meeting scheduled later during January 2014.

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