Seera Investment Bank has reported a profit of $64 million for the first nine months of this year, up from $7 million for the same period last year.

The strong results reflect the performance of Seera's investment portfolio and confirm the fact that the bank is showing a very healthy trend of gradually improving financial results, a report said.

A recent exit from one of the bank's major investments contributed significantly to these results.

Foreign exchange accounting on non-US dollar long-term investments resulted in a small net loss for the third quarter of less than $200,000 compared to a profit of $4 million for the same quarter in 2010.

Total assets at the end of the third quarter were $544 million, an increase of 27 per cent compared to the same period in 2010.

Given the uncertainties and the current market turbulence, there has not been any major new investment activity in the third quarter and therefore the results for the nine months reflect more broadly Seera's investment activities in 2011, the report in teh Gulf Daily News, our sister newspaper said.

Generally, the bank's investment portfolio has shown a very good level of resilience during the financial crisis and strong performance since then.

"Seera's strategy is to invest in companies with strong fundamentals and an experienced management team focusing mainly on industries which are not highly cyclical," said chief executive Abdulla Janahi.

"This strategy has seen Seera through the worst financial crisis and the subsequent challenging global economic environment," he said.

"We are very pleased with these positive results and feel that they fairly reflect Seera's strategy to invest in sectors and asset classes with appropriate levels of risk and strong growth prospects.

"There is no doubt that our disciplined approach has been key to Seera realising value from investments, even in difficult times," he said.

"BWA, our recent exit, is a good example of our investment approach," he added.

"The UK-based company was acquired just before the onset of the financial crisis and Seera worked in close partnership with company management to mitigate the impact of the crisis and grow its business.

"The successful exit demonstrated our ability to create value during this exceptionally challenging investment holding period.

"In line with our prudent investment strategy, the bank diligently managed its balance sheet and avoided excessive leverage," he said.

"Due to the cautious liquidity management approach, we were able to comfortably meet all our obligations on time.

"Over a year ago, we also initiated a programme to implement an efficient and sustainable overhead operating base and ensured that an optimal operating environment is maintained," he said.

"There is a great deal of uncertainty and the markets are not as stable at present as we would like them to be, especially given the sovereign debt issues in Europe, but we are hopeful that market stability will return in the foreseeable future," he added.

Seera has investments in the industrial manufacturing and transportation sectors in addition to smaller investments in the utilities and real estate sectors.

The bank's investment strategy is to maintain a diversified investment portfolio geographically and industry wise, focusing mainly on defensive sectors underpinned by strong fundamental demand, and avoiding speculation-driven sectors. - TradeArabia News Service