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NET PROFIT UP 76pc

Dr Attiga and Dr Al Saadoun.

Apicorp announces record profitability, earnings for 2018

MUSCAT, April 17, 2019

The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), a multilateral development financial institution established to foster the development of the Arab world’s energy sector and petroleum industries, has registered robust financial results across the business and increased profitability and sustainable earnings for 2018.
 
A corporation, owned by the 10 Arab oil producing countries, Apicorp has its headquarters in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and a country office in Bahrain.

A major player in the region, Apicorp makes equity investments and provides project finance, trade finance, advisory and research to the energy industry in its member states and the region.

Announcing the results at its 43rd General Assembly in Muscat, Oman, Apicorp said the net profit for the corporation in 2018 increased to $182.3 million, a 76 per cent year-over-year increase and the highest in the group's history.

The meeting was attended by the shareholders of Apicorp representing its member states.

The growth was mainly driven by returns from a capital gain of $86.7 million on the sale of Apicorp’s equity stake in National Petroleum Services (NPS) as well as remarkable growth achievements of net interest income and dividend income at 67 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively.

Indeed, all these factors resulted in total income at $252.7 million, increasing by 78 per cent vis-à-vis the 2017 figures.

Commenting on the key financial highlights for the year, Chairman Dr Aabed bin Abdulla Al Saadoun said: "This year was the strongest financial performance achieved by Apicorp with significant net profit increase to $182.3 million and 11 per cent asset growth."

"Apicorp registered robust financial results across the business and increased profitability and sustainable earnings in line with its vision, while cementing its position as the leading multilateral development financial institution supporting the Arab world’s broader energy and sustainability industries," he added.

CEO Dr Ahmed Ali Attiga said: "The annual results are testament to the resilient efforts of our entire team, and a strong indicator of our overall business strategy and robust risk and corporate governance framework. Notably, the group’s 2018 total income increased by 78 per cent to $252.7 million over last year."

"The assets grew by 11 per cent to $6.95 billion as of 31 December 2018. This was mainly due to an expanding corporate finance portfolio that reached $3.49 billion (around 50 per cent of the balance sheet) and is well-diversified in the broader energy sectors," noted Dr Attiga.

"Notably, the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio has shown remarkable improvements from 2.05 per cent in 2017 to 0.34 per cent in 2018," he added.

On the funding front in 2018, the Arab petchem firm said it had successfully completed five medium-term funding transactions for a total amount of $1.3 billion from the international markets and had widened its investor base, with strong interest coming from the US, Europe, Asia and China.

In September last year, Moody’s had announced an upgrade to the rating outlook of Apicorp’s debt from Aa3 stable to Aa3 positive. This development comes in the wake of consistent improvement in its funding profile and corresponding improvements in its liquidity position.-TradeArabia News Service




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