Pharmacies' profits set to be capped - Gulf Daily News

MANAMA: National Finance House
(NFH) has announced the distribution
of a cash dividend of five per cent of
the company’s paid-up share capital,
amounting to BD375,000 at its annual
general meeting.
“I am pleased to report that NFH
posted a strong overall financial and
operational performance in 2012, with
total operating income increasing by
11pc to BD2.51 million compared with
BD2.26m the previous year,” said chairman
Farouk Almoayyed.
“During 2012, the company took the
prudent step of booking very conserva-
tive provisions
of BD550,600
against impairment
on loans to
customers.
“This resulted
in a reduction
of net profit
from BD801,000
in 2011 to
BD722,000 in
2012.”
For the fourth
quarter of last year, NFH reported a
net profit of BD148,000 compared to
BD189,000 for
the same period
of previous year.
Total assets
had risen to
BD40.29m
compared with
BD33.42m in
2011.
Shareholders’
equity grew to
BD11.36m from
BD10.63m.
During 2012, NFH focused on vehicle
financing and further built on the posi-
Gulf Daily News Thursday, 14th March 2013 25
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National Finance House
announces 5pc dividend
n Mr Almoayyed n Mr Venkat
n Bahrain-Japan Business and Friendship Society (BJBFS) president Mubarak Kanoo hosted a dinner reception at Kanoo
Guest House, Mahooz for the Japanese community of Bahrain. BJBFS deputy president Nasser Al Arayedh, events and culture
committee head Nabeel Ajoor and board and committee members attended. Members of the Japanese community were also
present. The society strives to strengthen Bahrain-Japan business relations.
Banking sector clean-up urged
WASHINGTON: Global economic conditions
remain subdued despite a rally in
financial markets and policymakers need
to act to address underlying risks, including
dealing with damaged banks, a top IMF
official said.
International Monetary Fund’s first
deputy managing director David Lipton,
said further improvements in the economic
outlook will require repairing bank balance
sheets and in some cases banks may need
to be closed.
“Banks will need to remove the dead
wood and address asset quality problems,
with some having to increase provisioning
for bad loans and add fresh capital,”
Mr Lipton said in prepared remarks to the
Chartered Financial Analyst Society.
“Some banks will prove to be non-viable
and will need to be wound down in an
orderly manner,” he added.
Mr Lipton said one of the lessons from
China bank vows reforms
BEIJING: China must stabilise
inflation expectations, the
head of the People’s Bank of
China (PBOC) said yesterday,
vowing to vigilantly manage
the risks of rising prices as
the central bank’s first priority
while also pledging further
capital market reforms.
Governor Zhou Xiaochuan
said the central bank’s stance
had shifted to neutral from
loose and that policy was now
prudently set to rein in the risk
of rising prices.
“The central bank has been
paying high attention to inflation
figures and we will stabilise
inflation expectations
via monetary policies,” Zhou
told a news conference on the
sidelines of China’s annual
meeting of parliament.
“February Consumer Price
Inflation (CPI) was slightly
higher than expectations, suggesting
that we need to keep
vigilant on inflation,” Zhou
said when asked about an
increase in annual CPI to a
10-month high of 3.2 per cent
in February.
The PBOC chief pledged to
maintain a drive for reforms
to the country’s financial markets
and the capital account,
which remain tightly controlled,
and would respond
to market demand for freer
access to the tightly managed
yuan currency.
“The rising demand for
yuan’s broader use in trade
and investment will help push
forward yuan capital account
reform,” Zhou said.
Investors expect China to
make its currency basically
convertible by 2015, or 2020
at the latest, and have anticipated
that monetary authorities
would do so according
to a series of time-tabled
steps. The new approach adds
more uncertainty to the route
Beijing may take to full currency
flexibility.
tive relationship with all the car dealers
which resulted in highest amount of
financing since the inception of the
company.
The company also managed to keep
its liquidity and funding positions at
very comfortable levels.
“Despite the stiff competition, I am
pleased to report that NFH achieved
a strong overall performance in 2012,
highlighted by improved top line financial
results, record vehicle purchase
loans and major new business achievements,”
said general manager P S
Venkat.
the global financial crisis was that banks
needed to improve the way they manage
risks so they do not wreck the economy.
This means that banks and other financial
institutions will need to reassess their
involvement in complex and opaque activities,
he added.
Propping up and bailing out damaged
banks has cost governments hundreds of
billions of dollars and pushed some coun-
tries’ debts to dangerous levels that has left
them vulnerable to debt market
shocks.
The IMF has warned that
unfinished financial reforms are
holding back a recovery in key
parts of the global economy.
The financial crisis prompted a
new order of financial regulation
in every part of the global
financial system from overthe-counter
derivatives to bank
capital requirements.
Mr Lipton said G20-led regulatory
reforms helped to boost
market confidence in recent
months but he urged policymakers
to maintain the reform
momentum.
“The process of agreeing and
implementing the global regulatory
reform agenda has been
viewed as gradual,” he said,
adding that banking systems
in some countries remained
weak and reforms needed to
be adjusted so they regain their
strength.
“NFH is continuing to work
towards realising the board’s
vision of becoming the firstchoice
provider of finance
solutions.
“In line with this a number
of strategic initiatives were
implemented throughout 2012
which contributed in strengthening
NFH’s relationship with
its customers and enabled it to
achieve excellent results.
“Those new initiatives
included the launch of a call
centre to service customers
both during and after office
hours, initiation of expansion
of head office and main
branch in order to provide better
facilities to customers and
to improve brand image of the
company.
“The company also finalised
a new core banking system,
replacing the legacy system
in order to enhance customer
service and improve internal
control and efficiency,” he said.
EU legislators
reject $1.3trn
budget plan
BRUSSELS: European
Parliament overwhelmingly
rejected a proposal for the
European Union’s €960 billion
euros ($1.3 trillion) budget yesterday.
The seven-year plan didn’t
address parliament’s main
demands that more be spent on
economic growth and that there
be flexibility to move money
within the budget. For that
reason, European Parliament
President Martin Schulz said,
it had to be rejected. The leaders’
proposal involved spending
cuts for the first time in the
EU’s history and would cement
the bloc’s budget through
2020.“We are now ready to
negotiate a fair multi-annual
budget,” he added.
Parliament and government
representatives must now try to
hammer out a compromise. The
European parliament has started
to flex its muscle under Schulz.
And the EU’s 27 governments
have already started to see a
shift in the balance of power.
Earlier this month, in arduous
negotiations, parliament
forced the member governments
to accept a cap on bankers’
bonuses to the amount of
their base salaries, or twice
that if shareholders agree.
Legislators added the bonus
caps to an important package
of legislation strengthening the
EU’s banking system.
Eager to pass the package
without further delay, the governments
grudgingly accepted
the Parliament’s proposal,
despite strenuous opposition
from Britain.
Many observers had
long criticised the European
Parliament as just a multi-lingual
talking shop.
Chevron targets
growth of 25pc
NEW YORK: Chevron Corporation, the second-largest US oil
company, said yesterday it had already started nearly all the
projects that would deliver 25 per cent growth in oil and gas
output over the next half a decade.
At its annual meeting with analysts, Chevron said 98pc of its
targeted production by 2017 was already in design, construction
or production.
Chevron reaffirmed the target of 3.3 million barrels per day
of oil equivalent, up from an estimated 2.65m bpd this year.
Looking beyond that, the company highlighted expansion in
Kazakhstan, steam-flooded oil production in the Middle East,
and even more liquefied natural gas from Canada and Australia.
“We feel very good about our 2017 target, and we anticipate
continuing to grow beyond 3.3m barrels per day,” said George
Kirkland, Chevron’s head of exploration and production.
Increasing production has been a challenge for the world’s
big oil companies, a trend underlined by last week’s prediction
of a 1pc decline this year by Exxon Mobil despite its budget of
$41 billion.
In 2013, Chevron expects to drill about 440 wells in the
Permian basin, located in the west part of Texas and New
Mexico. The company bought assets in the area from Chesapeake
Energy Corporation in September, and Kirkland said that acreage
appeared more productive than the initial estimates.
Asked about potential asset sales of its own, chief executive
John Watson noted the Permian represented an area where the
company had a legacy position which became attractive again
because of the improvements in shale drilling technology.