Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Bank Muscat Board proposes 35 per cent dividend

1119935
1119935
minus
plus


BUSINESS REPORTER -
MUSCAT, JAN 30 -
Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate, has proposed 35 per cent dividend for the year 2018.
Continuing the bank’s strong dividend payment track record, the Board of Directors proposed 30 per cent cash dividend for the year 2018 which is consistent with the cash dividend paid in the last many years. In addition, 5 per cent dividend in the form of bonus shares has been proposed.
The bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) post the cash dividend payout will be 19.38 per cent which is well above the regulatory minimum of 13.57 per cent as per Basel III regulations issued by the Central Bank of Oman.
The meeting of the Board of Directors chaired by Shaikh Khalid bin Mustahail al Mashani, Chairman, on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, approved the 2018 financial results and dividend payout, subject to approval of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and shareholders of the bank.
Shareholders would receive cash dividend of RO 0.030 per ordinary share of RO 0.100 each aggregating to RO 88.422 million on the bank’s existing share capital.
In addition, they would receive bonus shares in the proportion of 1 share for every 20 ordinary shares aggregating to 147,370,636 shares of RO 0.100 each amounting to RO 14.737 million.
The proposed cash dividend and issuance of bonus shares are subject to formal approval of the Annual General Meeting of shareholders and regulatory authorities.
The bank posted net profit of RO 179.63 million for the period ending December 31, 2018 compared to RO 176.82 million reported during the same period in 2017, an increase of 1.6 per cent.
Net Interest Income from Conventional Banking and Income from Islamic Financing stood at RO 304.29 million for the year 2018 compared to RO 281.35 million for the same period in 2017, an increase of 8.2 per cent.
Non-interest income at RO 142.45 million was lower by 7.9 per cent compared to RO 154.62 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. Income in 2017 includes one-off investment gain of RO 12.8 million on sale of certain investments.
Operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2018 at RO 190.34 million was higher by 3.4 per cent as compared to RO 184.08 million for the same period in 2017. Net Impairment and other losses for the year was RO 43.24 million as against RO 43.28 million for the same period in 2017.
Net Loans and advances, including Islamic financing receivables, increased by 7.3 per cent to RO 8,939 million as against RO 8,329 million as at December 31, 2017.
Customer deposits, including Islamic Customer deposits, increased by 14.1 per cent to RO 8,463 million as against RO 7,419 million as at December 31, 2017.
The main reason for substantial increase in customer deposits in the last quarter of 2018, was due to an increase in short term deposits which are transit in nature.
The basic earnings per share was RO 0.061 in 2018 and 2017. The complete set of financial statements, which are subject to Central Bank of Oman approval, are available in the Muscat Securities Market website.



SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon