Observer 25 Apr 2012 - Oman Daily Observer

Samsung launches
new 2012
Smart TV line-up
Page 11
MHD-BKT hold product event
BKT, an Indian brand name with diverse business interests as
represented by MHD in Oman conducted a product familiarisation
event at the Crowne Plaza on Monday. Clients and other invitees
from various walks of life attended the event. BKT has emerged as
a symbol of trust, excellence and genuineness. Page 10
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Bank Sohar prot up 74.3pc
By A Staff Reporter
MUSCAT — Bank Sohar completed its
fth anniversary with an all-round stellar
performance. The bank reported a
net prot of RO 5.330 million for the
rst quarter ending March 31, 2012, an
increase of 74.3 per cent from the previous
year. Increased business volumes and
customer ows propelled total income to
a new high of RO 12.564 million, an increase
of 26.4 per cent.
Net Interest Income witnessed a signicant
improvement of 19.7 per cent to
RO 9.560 million. Bank Sohar focused on
By A Staff Reporter
MUSCAT — In a reection of the robustness
of its core operations, ahlibank
SAOG’s net prot surged 47 per cent to
RO 5.92 million for the period ending
March 31, 2012, from RO 4.03 million
during the same quarter in 2011.
“Ahlibank has performed strongly in
Q1 2012 and achieved enormous growth in
its chosen market segments following the
strategic realignment of its Corporate and
Retail businesses. The results demonstrate
positive momentum in both revenue and
lending growth and we will look to maintain
this throughout the year,” commented
Abdulaziz al Balushi, CEO of ahlibank.
The nancial results of the three
months ended March 31, 2012 portrays
a strong foundation for the sustainable
core earnings momentum as it executes its
strategy for the year, the bank said.
Net operating income has increased by
50 per cent to RO 11.28 million as compared
to the same period last year and operating
expenses (excluding loan impairment
net of recoveries) were controlled at
RO 3.08 million resulting in a lower cost
to income ratio of 27 per cent, in comparison
with a much higher 31 per cent as on
March 31, 2011. Overall, the net prot
after tax rose by 47 per cent to RO 5.92
million as compare to RO 4.03 million in
the same period last year.
The total assets at the end of Q1 2012
reached RO 995 million representing a
growth of 24 per cent as compared to RO
800 million in Q1 2011. The loans and advances
have signicantly risen to RO 828
million in Q1 2012, from RO 655 million
during the same period last year.
In line with ahlibank’s strategy of
2.7pc decline in Nawras Q1 revenues
By A Staff Reporter
MUSCAT — Omani Qatari Telecommunications
Company (Nawras) yesterday
reported a 2.7 per cent drop in revenues
for the rst quarter of this year, which declined
to RO 46.8 million from RO 48.1
million a year earlier.
Announcing its unaudited nancial
results for the three months ended March
31, 2012, Nawras attributed the decline to
a reduction in SMS revenues which was
not fully compensated by growth in data
revenue. In addition, revenue in Q1 2012
included a favourable one-off accounting
adjustment of RO 658,000, it said
EBITDA in Q1 2012 decreased 5.6 per
cent to RO 24.1 million, compared to RO
25.6 million in Q1 2011. Net prot for the
quarter was RO 9.8 million compared to
RO 12.1 million in Q1 2011.
The total number of customers grew
by 46,105 customers (2.4 per cent) to
1,988,476 in Q1 2012 compared to
execution of strategic initiatives, prudent
risk management and strong balance sheet
enabled it to capture opportunities across
the country and in the region in a challenging
environment. Return on equity
rose from 11.5 per cent in 2011 to 16.66
per cent as of March 2012 (annualised).
Gross Loans increased 13.2 per cent to
RO 1,078 million. Net Loans & Advances
grew by 13 per cent to RO 1,056 million.
Both the Corporate and Retail Sectors
contributed to the growth.
Operating Expenses grew by only
2.6 per cent to RO 6.015 million as the
bank leveraged on the existing head-
Ahlibank’s net jumps 47pc
ABDUL AZIZ al Balushi
maintaining adequate liquidity, reducing
concentration risk and building a low cost
deposit base, the customers’ deposits have
grown by 16 per cent from RO 615 million
in Q1 2011 to RO 715 million in Q1 2012.
Loan growth of over 26 per cent has
been achieved with a prudent risk management
approach and a diversied sectoral
basis. The loan book continues to be of
very high quality as reected in the NPL
ratio of 1 per cent as of March 31, 2012.
“Ahlibank is committed to pursuing
vigorous growth in 2012, not only in
terms of its market size but also in its offering
of nancial products and services
to its growing customer base,” is said.
A key objective for this year is the introduction
of Islamic Banking services.
Towards this goal the bank has already put
in place a governance framework, systems
and procedures to facilitate the roll-out of
Sharia compliant products and services.
“Competition in this emerging nancial
sector is expected to increase, given
1,942,371 in Q1
2011. The growth
came mainly from
increases in both
xed services customers
and prepaid
mobile customers.
The xed service
customer base
grew by nearly 273
per cent to 32,857 in
Q1 2012 compared
to 8,816 for the same period of 2011. The
mobile post-paid customer base developed
by 2.0 per cent to 171,980 customers
compared with 168,659 customers in
Q1 2011. The mobile pre-paid customer
base for Q1 2012 increased to 1,783,639
customers compared to 1,764,896 customers
in Q1 2011 (+1.1 per cent).
Commenting on the results, CEO, Ross
Cormack said: “We continue to work in
a highly competitive environment here
in Oman. However, I am pleased to say
count and infrastructure investments to
support higher business volumes and future
growth. The cost-income ratio was
healthy at 47.88 per cent compared to
58.98 per cent in the corresponding period
last year, a reduction of an unprecedented
11.1 per cent within a short span
of one year. Bank Sohar’s balance sheet
strength remains a key differentiating factor,
enabling it to gain customers’ wallet
share during the year.
Bank Sohar is well capitalised as a result
of consistently strong earnings generation
and prudent capital management.
Both its Tier 1 ratio and total capital adequacy
ratio are comfortably above regulatory
requirements.
Liquidity remains healthy with the
loan-deposit ratio at 88.7 per cent. Deposits
grew 26.7 per cent during the period
to RO 1,191 million, with deposit inows
bolstered by Bank Sohar’s highly effective
domestic deposit franchise and sound
fundamentals. The bank’s market share of
Private Sector Credit was 8.09 per cent
while the Private Sector Deposit share
was 7.47 per cent as at end of February
2012.
Bank Sohar continues to be rated
BBB+ (by Fitch). Bank Sohar’s strengths
have also enabled it to expand its wholesale
funding programmes and diversify its
sources of liquidity. The stellar achievements
are further noteworthy as they have
come in the wake of Global Economic
crisis of 2008 and the Euro region crisis
of 2011.0
Bank Sohar had a soft launch of its
banking operations on April 9, 2007 and
quickly rose to take an important part in
the banking industry. Bank Sohar’s cutting
edge technology with differentiated
customer offerings and services enabled
it to make a mark for itself in the Banking
Industry in Oman. Starting from a one
branch operation in 2007, Bank Sohar
could quickly ramp up its network to 25
branches as of March 2012.
the widespread interest in Islamic Banking
evinced by other local commercial banks
and with the coming of new banks in the
market, but ahlibank is determined to be a
key and leading player in this business,” it
said. Ahlibank is also in the process of acquiring
the assets and liabilities of Middle
East Brokerage Company LLC, subject to
regulatory approvals, in line with its strategic
objective to roll out its Investment
Banking activities.
On the important milestones to look
forward to, Al Balushi said, “In coming
months, we will try to increase our share
capital to support our ambitious and prudent
business growth. As responsible corporate
citizen, we are deeply committed to
the cause of creation of employment opportunities
for Omanis, as we move ahead
with our expansion plans. The construction
of our new building is progressing
well and we believe it to be a unique and
iconic building in Oman. We would not
be able to reach these goals without the
dedication and commitment of our management
and staff.”
Ahlibank completed 4 years of successful
operation on January 5, 2012 and
remains well poised for robust growth in
the future. The bank has grown by 204 per
cent, its total assets in the last four years,
which tangibly demonstrates the ambitions
and commitment of its shareholders
and management. Ahlibank’s success has
been visibly recognised as it has been selected
as the No1 Bank of the Sultanate
in the OER-Gulf Baader Capital Markets
survey of the Best Banks in Oman, 2011.
The top ranking for ahlibank is based on
the overall performance of the bank in
terms of growth, sustainability, asset quality,
productivity and efciency.
that the number of our xed broadband
customers continues to grow signicantly
year on year at a rate of 273 per cent. Furthermore
we are now starting to see our
mobile customer base and number of active
customer also growing.
Early in Q1 2012, we revamped our
VOIP service for xed as well as mobile
customers, resulting in real growth in our
international calls. That was followed
closely with a demonstration of our 4G
LTE service capabilities at the Muscat
Grand Mall, a culmination of our testing
in the eld.
Muscat Grand Mall is now the home
of our new Nawras Campus, bringing the
company together again. We are already
seeing the efciency benets of closer
teams and work ow synergies due to this
move. In March 2012 we successfully
renanced our existing loan facilities
which enhanced our nancial exibility
and lowered our funding costs,” Cormack
added
LONDON — Royal Dutch
Shell has agreed to buy Cove
Energy for £1.12 billion ($1.8
billion), lifting its offer to access
East Africa’s huge gas reserves,
but failing to quell hopes of a
bid battle for the Mozambiquefocused
explorer.
Cove’s directors recommended
the offer from oil major
Shell, which matched rather
than beat a rival offer made by
Thai state-controlled oil rm
PTT Exploration and Production
Pcl (PTTEP) in February,
as Shell betted that its expertise
would help secure the deal.
“PTTEP is currently considering
its options and will
make a further announcement
as and when appropriate,” the
Thai rm said in a statement
yesterday.
Industry interest in East Africa
has been gathering pace
after huge gas discoveries
were made there, with the region
tipped to become a major
natural gas producing region
supplying liquid natural gas
(LNG) to energy hungry Asian
markets.
Shares in Cove traded
above Shell’s 220 pence per
share offer, up 4.6 per cent to
227 pence at 1145 GMT, signalling
investors are hopeful
of a higher bid.
“Competing offers can still
be made and the shares will
now likely trade to a slight premium
on the hope that PTTEP
will trump Shell,” said Investec
analysts.
However, Westhouse Securities
analyst Andrew Matharu
said Mozambique would likely
favour Shell’s offer.
“A key component of this
All-new 2012 CR-V comes to Oman
THE all-new fourth generation CR-V was debuted by Oman
Marketing and Services Company (OMASCO) in Muscat the
other day. Set to go on sale from April 18, the new CR-V will be
available for customers in the Sultanate of Oman in 3 different
grades — LX, EX and EX-Leather. Page 11
Shell to buy Cove Energy for $1.8bn
is how the Mozambique authorities
want to develop their
resources and a project of this
scale needs an oil major with
the nancial resources and the
expertise of bringing world
class scale projects to fruition
so you need someone like a
Shell,” he said.
Shell said the deal was conditional
upon approval from the
government of Mozambique
amongst other things, adding
that it includes a break fee of
£11.1 million if Cove later accepts
a rival bid.
On a usual timetable, a
competing offer would have a
window of around one to two
months to emerge.
Cove’s directors, in possession
of a collective 4.38
per cent stake in the company,
said they would be accepting
the offer.
Both Cove and Shell declined
to comment on how
capital gains tax which will be
owed to Mozambique upon the
sale of assets in the country will
be paid.
Cove said earlier in April
that it will be subject to a tax
rate of 12.8 per cent on the
capital gains arising from the
sale of its Mozambique assets,
clarifying that a levy would
be applicable after a period
of uncertainty which analysts
had warned could impact the
sale.
“It is still not clear who, or
how the capital gains tax associated
with the Cove sale will
be paid to Mozambique,” said
Canaccord Genuity analyst
Braden Purkis.
“However, it is clear that
Cove shareholders will receive
220 pence in cash for each
share held,” he added.
Cove’s main asset is an 8.5
per cent stake in the Rovuma
Offshore Area 1 in Mozambique,
where operator Anadarko
has said recoverable
reserves could top 30 trillion
cubic feet of natural gas.
Mirabaud Securities analysts
said Cove’s stake seems
a small holding for a company
the size of Shell, which is one
of the world’s biggest LNG
players.
“We would look for it to take
further equity over the coming
months,” they said. In addition
to Anadarko, Japan’s Mitsui
and Indian groups Bharat
Petroleum and Videocon each
own 10 per cent stakes in the
Rovuma licence. — Reuters