Gulf Finance House posts $4.2 million net profit

Gulf Finance House (GFH), a Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, reported a net profit of $4.2 million for the half-year period compared to $5.7 million in the corresponding half-year period in 2012.
This was announced in its financial results for the first half of the year ended June 30, 2013, during which it continued to report good operational performance and profitability.
GFH net profit for the second quarter was $2.7 million compared to $4.7 million for the second quarter of 2012.
Total income for the second quarter was $13.4 million compared to a total income of $19.7 million for the second quarter of 2012.
Income was primarily generated from management fees from funds under management, investment income and recoveries.
Operating costs for the half-year period reduced by 27 percent to $19.6 million compared to $26.9 million for the prior year period, underlining ongoing efforts in the streamlining of operations and achieving greater efficiencies across the business.
Hisham Al-Rayes, acting CEO of GFH, said: “We are pleased to report another period of improving performance and profitability, which reflects our commitment to maintaining positive results.”
Al-Rayes said: “We continue to focus on the strengthening of the balance sheet and the realignment of projects for successful exits, which is allowing us today to establish the Bank’s credit rating in the market. We believe that this will also further enhance market confidence in the bank and allow for better business making in the future.”
He added: “During the quarter we focused on building platforms to extract value from our existing assets. In this regard, we secured a number of strategic investors alongside GFH in Leeds United FC. We also saw progress on a number of our development projects and expect to see positive results later this year in particular in Bahrain and Tunis.”