ABC Islamic Bank today announced a net profit of $1.6 million for the first quarter of 2012.

The figure compares with a net profit of $3 million for the first quarter of last year, which was mainly due to a one-off revenue item of $1.3 million, said a statement.

It is to be noted that a conservative higher provision of $0.5 million related to an old impaired asset in Saudi Arabia also contributed to the lower net profit figure for the first quarter.

For the same reason, total operating income for the first quarter was $3.4 million, compared to $4.8 million for the first quarter of last year.

The bank’s operating expenses decreased to $1.3 million compared to $1.8 million for the same quarter of last year, it said. Shareholders’ equity at March 31, 2012 stood at $229.3 million, compared to $227.7 million at 2011 year-end.

The bank’s capital base remains strong with a capital adequacy ratio of 28.0 per cent, predominantly Tier 1, which totalled 27.8 per cent.

Naveed Khan, managing director of ABC Islamic Bank, said: “We have now reached desired levels of balance sheet size, where we aspire to see growth in line with the region. Legacy provisioning aside, core profitability of the bank is on an upward positive trend along with improved cost efficiency. Business volumes are also showing signs of improvement across the region.” – TradeArabia News Service