SHUAA Capital’s revenues for the full year of 2015 stood at AED178.2 million (2014: AED 213.4 million) and the company posted an overall loss of AED 190.3 million (2014: profit of AED25.8 million), according to its financial results for the full year and final quarter of 2015.

For Q4, 2015, the company reported revenues of AED40.1 million, representing a 58 percent increase compared to AED25.4 million in Q4, 2014, and a loss of AED161.8 million (Q4, 2014: loss of AED14.8 million).

“The difficult market conditions driven by the decline in oil prices, global economic instability and continued political uncertainty in the region witnessed during the course of 2015 created a challenging operating environment for SHUAA’s business units, particularly in the second half of the year,” commented Abdul Rahman Hareb Rashed Al-Hareb, chairman of SHUAA Capital.

The majority of the loss recorded in 2015 is attributable to Gulf Finance, the SME Lending business, which set aside provisions of AED154.6 million against bad loans. Despite this, the business increased full year revenues by 21 percent to AED159.7 million (2014: AED131.5 million) and continues to see strong demand for its financing products.

Despite volatile market conditions in 2015, SHUAA maintained a solid balance sheet and total assets at year-end stood at AED1.6 billion (2014: AED1.6 billion). The group’s liquidity position remains strong with AED263 million in cash.

Liabilities increased to AED 639 million from AED459 million in 2014, principally due to additional financing support for the SME lending business.

As of Dec. 31, 2015, net assets stood at AED961 million while the leverage ratio was 0.47 at year-end.

Operating expenses remained stable at AED164.3 million (2014: AED165.1 million) while general and administrative expenses for the year reduced by 9 percent.