MANAMA, 24 April 2005 — United Gulf Bank (UGB) of Bahrain, the investment banking subsidiary of KIPCO (Kuwait Projects Company Holding), has announced $16.3 million profit for the first quarter of 2005, or 2.13 cents per share. This represents a 43 percent increase over the $11.4 million net profit earned during the same period last year, and follows UGB’s best-ever full year net profit of $43.3 million in 2004.
“The first quarter performance was at historic levels supported by strong trading gains and disposals, as well as continued growth in our core businesses and in particular the wealth management services provided by KAMCO. This is an excellent start to a year which promises to continue the momentum of the past two record earning years and deliver yet a third year in a row of historic net income,” UGB CEO William Khouri said.
UGB’s total consolidated revenue of $42.5 million in the first three months of 2005 increased by 86 per cent over the $22.9 million recorded in the same period last year. Contributing to this record first quarter revenue were realized and un-realized gains on the trading book of $10.3 million, gain on sale of investments available for sale of $7.5 million, dividend income of $4.5 million, fees and commissions of $7.3 million and share in profit of associated companies of $8.2 million.