Al Baraka Group, a leading international Islamic financial group in Bahrain, has announced that it had achieved a year of prosperity and financial stability in both income and profitability with its net income for 2023 surging 18% to $283 million.
Announcing its financial results for 12-month period ended December 31, 2023, Al Baraka said its net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company stood at $143.5 million in 2023, compared to $143.1 million for the same period in 2022, registering a growth of 0.3%.
This financial stability reflects the group’s continuity in generating strong financing and investment activities despite the ongoing volatility of markets throughout the year.
The Group reported that Basic and diluted earnings per share for the year remained relatively stable at US Cents 8.94 in 2023 compared with US Cents 9.06 for the same period of 2022.
Al Baraka’s total operating income for 2023 surged to $1.14 billion versus $1.13 billion the year before mainly driven by the increase in income generated by the group’s units in Turkey, Jordan and Egypt.
Total equity remained stable at $1.97 billion as on December 31, 2023, similar to year-end 2022. Total equity attributable to shareholders and sukuk holders of the parent company stood at $1.25 billion versus $1.26 billion at year-end 2022, resulting in a slight reduction of 1% due to negative foreign currency translation reserves.
Total assets of the group reported a slight increase of 1% at $25.26 billion as of December 31, 2023 compared with $24.98 billion the year before.
On the Q4 results, the Al Baraka Group announced a net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company of $17 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, similar to the fourth quarter of 2022.
Basic and diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2023 was US Cents (0.02) compared with US Cents (0.03) in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The group’s net income increased by 14% to $37 million in the fourth quarter compared with $32 million for the same period of 2022.
Impressed with the results, the Board of Directors have recommended to the AGM to distribute cash dividends of $ 0.01 (Bahraini fils 3.77) for each outstanding share (1% from the share capital amounting to $12.4 million), subject to regulatory and AGM approvals.
Commenting on the results, Chairman Shaikh Abdullah Saleh Kamel said: “In 2023, the group achieved a year of prosperity and financial stability in both income and profitability. We succeeded in tackling numerous obstacles and challenges in the regional and global financial markets, especially with the ongoing currency fluctuations.”
“Due to our efforts in developing our investments, strategies and digital transformation efforts, we were able to improve our operational framework to deliver a strong financial performance,” he noted.
Group CEO Houssem Ben Haj Amor said: “We are proud to announce our strong financial results throughout 2023, which represented a year of structural reorganization and operations growth, despite economic volatility in the markets we operate in.”
“High profit rates and significant currencies devaluations represented a challenge to our growth; nevertheless, the Group showed resilience thanks to its conservative business approach and strict cost discipline,” noted Amor.
“Our digitalization initiatives reinforced our growth trend, and although we anticipate continuing challenges in 2024, we remain confident that the Group will be able to maintain and strengthen its financial performance,” he added.
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