Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank has announced a record net income of $362.2 million for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2008, posting a 90 per cent increase on the annualised figure of $190.5 million recorded in fiscal 2007. 

Announcing the results on Wednesday at the AGM, Arcapita chairman Mohammed Abdulaziz Aljomaih said the company’s net income had grown at a compounded annual growth rate of more than 40 per cent since its inception.

The total operating revenue for fiscal year jumped 59.1 per cent to $648.5 million when compared to the annualised figure of $407.5 million achieved in fiscal 2007. 

Arcapita’s balance sheet footing at the end of June 2008 was $5.1 billion, up 35 per cent on the $3.8 billion at the end of fiscal 2007, he said.

A cash dividend of $90.2 million for the period has been proposed for shareholders’ approval at Arcapita’s AGM, representing a return of 40 per cent on the bank’s paid-in capital.

“Arcapita has once again delivered another set of very pleasing results. In a challenging global economic environment, the bank has performed well in each of its lines of business, validating the bank’s strategy of geographic and product diversification,” Aljomaih stated.

Arcapita sources transactions for each of its lines of business – corporate, real estate, asset-based and venture capital investments – out of its offices in Bahrain, Atlanta, London, and most recently Singapore, where the bank opened an office during fiscal 2008. 

The bank now employs over 300 people, a third of whom are located outside of the bank’s headquarters in Bahrain.

Arcapita vice chairman Abdulaziz Hamad Aljomaih said, 'We have witnessed considerable economic turbulence in much of the world’s economy during the last 12 months, but Arcapita’s international network of resources has allowed us to maintain a good flow of attractive investment opportunities for our investors.'

'As well as sourcing investments from our traditional markets in the United States, Western Europe and Middle East, the bank sourced and completed its first investments in Eastern Europe, India, Singapore and China, markets which we believe are full of growth potential,' he added.

“We completed a $1.1 billion medium term financing facility last summer prior to the onset of the credit crunch. This gave us a very stable platform to mange our balance sheet funding and liquidity during the year,” said Atif A. Abdulmalik, chief executive officer of Arcapita.

“We made 13 new investments in each of our four lines of business during the year with a total transaction value of over $8 billion, and we have almost $5 billion in funds under management.'

'Our average investment size is increasing steadily, and we have now completed seven transactions, with a value in excess of a billion dollars.  After careful analysis, and dialogue with our investors, we made our first investments into a number of important new markets, as we continue to pursue our strategic goal of increasing geographical diversification,” Abdulmalik noted.

During the year, Arcapita quit six investments and, together with recapitalizations during the period, was able to return more than $1.1 billion to investors.-TradeArabia News Service