Al Baraka Banking Q2 net income rises 13%

Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka Banking Group posted a 13-percent rise in quarterly net income, the bank said yesterday, boosted by growth in its lending operations.

The bank, which has operations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, made a net attributable profit of $38 million for the second quarter, compared with $34 million in the same period of 2011, according to the statement.

The rise was helped by an equal percentage increase in total operating income, which rose to $206 million in the quarter over the year-ago period.

Net attributable income for the first six months of the year was $70.8 million, a 10-percent gain versus the corresponding period of 2011, when the bank made $64.4 million.

"The financial results achieved by the group in the first half of 2012 can be considered as excellent if we take into account the difficult economic and financial conditions that prevailed in the region and the world as a whole," said Adnan Ahmed Yousif, chief executive of Al Baraka, in the statement.

Lending increased 8 percent over the first half of the year, to $12.7 billion at the end of June against $11.8 billion at the end of December.

Total assets stood at $17.6 billion at the end of June, up 3 percent on the end of 2011. Customer deposits grew 3 percent in the same period, to $15.1 billion from $14.7 billion.

Al Baraka is aiming for a 15 percent growth in net profit in 2012, as well as acquiring a 75-percent stake in an unlisted Indonesian bank this year, Yousif told Reuters in an interview in March.