Leading UAE investment bank Shuaa Capital has a registered a net profit of Dh8.2 million ($2.23 million) in the first quarter of 2014 when compared to a net loss of Dh5.9 million last year.

Announcing the results, the Dubai lender said this was its fourth consecutive quarterly profit, up 118 per cent over the profit of Dh3.8 million generated in the last quarter.

The bank also registered a 77 per cent increase in its revenue for the first quarter which soared to Dh64 million from Dh36 million last year.

The significant jump in year-on-year quarterly numbers was due to improved client activity across all core divisions with growth in interest income as well as fees and commissions, said the statement from Shuaa Capital.

The interest income increased by 37 per cent to Dh30.7 million from Dh22.4 million last year and net fees and commissions rose 135 per cent to Dh15.8 million from Dh6.7 million a year earlier, it added.  

Investments in Shuaa managed funds saw gains of Dh17.8 million as compared to Dh7 million last year.

Shuaa Capital said this solid result reflected contributions from all income generating businesses.

Commenting on the performance, Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum, the executive chairman of ShuaaCapital, said: “We have generated a robust first quarter financial performance, with all income generating business divisions posting a net profit. We have further expanded our loan portfolio, completed a number of significant investment banking transactions, improved asset quality while ensuring that we build out our competitive market position."

"We also installed a new sales and trading technology platform," noted  Sheikh Maktoum.

"We are seeing an improved investment banking pipeline and a larger pool of companies wanting to go public, improving the possibility of more transactions being executed by Shuaa. We anticipate increased demand for lending following the recent decree in UAE requiring 10 per cent of all government contracts to be awarded to SMEs," he added.

As at 31 March 2014, Shuaa had total assets of Dh1.49 billion, fractionally down on the 2013 year-end figure. The net assets rose to Dh1.13 billion from Dh1.11 billion at 31 December 2013 due to a drop in bank debt and payables.-TradeArabia News Service