Gatehouse Bank, the London-based Islamic investment institution, has posted a first-half profit of more than $3.2 million, exceeding projections by nearly 10 per cent.

Income for the six months amounted to $9.7 million compared with GBP1.719 million ($2.72 million) for the comparative period, an increase in excess of 250 per cent, , indicating that the bank's business and operating model is maturing out of its start-up phase.

This demonstrated that the bank is now well on its way towards meeting its 2012 financial plan, delivering substantial growth and wealth preservation on behalf of its investors.

Income was driven by an active real estate strategy, which generated a year-to-date income of more than $3.1 million.

Despite the difficult economic environment, the bank has continued to build on a track record of over $890 million real estate acquisitions since its FSA certification in 2008, making it one of the most active non-institutional investors in the market.

Recent high-profile deals include the $92 million acquisition of the North Sea headquarters of Petrofac in Aberdeen, the acquisition of a $155 million portfolio of 20 industrial properties in the US and the $32 million acquisition of BT Telecom's regional office in West Bromwich.

These, together with two further acquisitions made through the bank's Sterling UK Real Estate Fund, completed a very busy six months for it.

As part of a diversification strategy building on the success of the real estate business, the beginning of 2012 also saw Gatehouse launch a core Sharia-compliant wealth management business to focus on the creation of relevant products and superior client relationship management services.

'This is an extremely encouraging set of results, and the strength of our half-year operating profit places Gatehouse Bank in an ideal position to maintain our ongoing growth trajectory into the remainder of 2012,' said chairman Fahed Boodai.

'We have a strong and sustainable business model and the board is pleased to see the bank delivering on its shareholders strategies.

'The reporting of a strong set of operating profits ahead of the financial budget demonstrates a sustainable and profitable core business model and represents a significant milestone in the life-cycle of the bank,' he added.

'Capital preservation remains a key focus of the bank in 2012 and our priority is to maximise income from strong and recurring income streams for the benefit of our investors,' chief executive Richard Thomas said.

'By following a risk sharing model and co-investing in transactions alongside our investors, not only are we able to concentrate on generating income and wealth preservation, but also best able to support the needs of businesses through a tangible asset base.

'This set of results has been achieved while the bank is still in the process of optimally deploying and allocating its balance sheet. The bank is investing in strong and robust risk measurement to ensure further allocation of the balance sheet is careful and measured.' – TradeArabia News Service