Islamic investment firm GFH six-month profit falls 34 pct

GFH Financial Group posted a 34 per cent drop in profit for the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2018.

The Islamic investment company’s profit fell to $48.426 million in H1 2019 from $73.406 million last year, it reported in a bourse filing on Wednesday.

Net profit attributable to shareholders was $49.134 million compared to $72.502 million last year, a drop of 32.3 per cent.

The decrease in net profits is attributed to lower contribution from the Group’s commercial banking arm due to higher impairment provisions at the commercial bank during the second quarter of 2019, head of financial control Surya Hariharan said in a statement.

Total income reached $163.545 million versus $134.118 million for H1 last year, an increase of 21.9 per cent.

The Group said the increase is primarily driven by the increased contribution from investment banking, proprietary investments, treasury, and real estate business lines.

Total assets grew to $6.137 billion at the end of June from $4.989 billion on December 31, a rise of 23 per cent.

This is primarily due to the increase in liquid assets of the Bank, it said.

GFH Financial Group is registered with the Central Bank of Bahrain as an Islamic wholesale bank.

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