DUBAI: Barwa Bank, a Shariah-compliant Qatari lender, expects a sharp increase in its 2013 net profit, driven mainly by billions in infrastructure spending by the Gulf state and growth in its debt advisory and asset management business.
"For the first half of 2013, we were 85 percent up on the same period last year. And for the full year we’re moving along very strongly and expect a positive and material improvement in net profit over 2012," Chief Executive Steve Troop said in an interview as part of the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit.
The unlisted lender is awaiting regulators' approval a public floatation as part of two share sales planned to raise more than 2.05 billion riyals. It posted a profit of 345 million riyals ($94.75 million) for 2012, a 41 percent increase from the previous year.
The company's biggest shareholder, Barwa Real Estate, by contrast, on Monday reported a 40 percent drop in profits for the first nine months of 2013, having drawn on state aid earlier this year.
The four-year old bank, effectively controlled by an arm of the state's sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), is seeing a pick-up in infrastructure development in the country after a slowdown in the last two years, Troop said.
The tiny gas-rich state of Qatar launched plans to spend about $140 billion over the next decade on a rail system, a new airport, a seaport, and hundreds of kilometers (miles) of major new roads, in addition to stadiums that will host the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament.
Barwa outlined a fundraising plan in April which includes the public issue and a similar sized rights issue to existing shareholders.
"We understand that stock market regulators want to manage the runway and make sure we’re not all trying to go public on the same market at the same time so we’re waiting for the appropriate time slot," Troop said.
"We are in contact with the authorities to liaise on the perfect timing," he added.
Barwa Bank is 37.3 percent owned by Barwa Real Estate Co., while Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, has a 12.1 percent stake.
The remaining shares are owned by several individuals and corporations, according to the bank's results statements.
Barwa Bank, through its fully-owned investment banking arm, The First Investor (TFI), plans to partner with local investors in Qatar to invest in the healthcare sector, TFI Chief Executive Khalid Al-Subeai said in the interview.
"We’re focused on Qatar and we are looking to replicate our venture in the education sector into the healthcare sector," Al-Subeai said.
The bank in June set up an education company in Qatar and is now developing two private schools at a cost of 230 million riyals, yielding 8 percent annually, he added.
The bank also manages a Shariah-compliant Gulf equities fund, with 113 million riyals in assets. The fund has returned 19 percent to investors since inception in late 2012.
"We continue to see AUMs (assets under management) grow as we see the Gulf equity markets are more attractive for investors compared to money market products and the sukuk space," Al-Subeai, who previously ran Morgan Stanley Inc.'s business in Qatar, said.
Qatar infrastructure spend to boost Barwa Bank profit
Qatar infrastructure spend to boost Barwa Bank profit
Existing world order would only disappear through a ‘major war,’ says Aboul Gheit
- Arab League secretary-general calls on member states to preserve it through ‘positive work’
- Aboul Gheit tells WGS that Arab League has so far been successful in maintaining its ‘cohesion and its role on the international stage’ despite tough challenges
DUBAI: The Arab League’s secretary-general warned Tuesday that despite significant developments in the international arena, these “do not change the existing international world order’s essence,” which would only disappear through “a major war.”
Ahmed Aboul Gheit stressed the need to preserve the League through positive action, given the external forces seeking to dismantle the Arab system and replace it with either a regional one entirely subject to international influence or one controlled by non-Arab regional powers.
“I would like to call on all AL’s member states to preserve the League, through the biggest form of positive work,” he told a crowded hall during his address at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
Aboul Gheit stated that the Arab League has so far been successful in maintaining its “cohesion and its role on the international stage,” despite the challenges it has faced since 2011.
Addressing a session moderated by Imad Eldin Adeeb, political analyst at Sky News Arabia, the AL’s secretary-general said, “I will return the League to the Arab states intact, unbroken, and which is in itself a great success,” noting that the League has continued to be active and represented on the world stage in various forums, despite multifaceted regional and international circumstances.
He emphasized that preserving the Arab League is a “strategic necessity for protecting Arab interests” and safeguarding independent Arab decision-making amid the rapidly changing international landscape.
On Gaza, he explained that the Arab League had exerted considerable efforts and fully exercised its role in relation to the actions and decisions of Arab states.
“If I were to convene a closed meeting with Arab leaders to offer advice regarding the remaining days of Trump’s presidency, I would advise action and engagement that preserves sovereignty and dignity. This means engaging where we can and postponing and maneuvering where we cannot accept,” said Aboul Gheit.
Speaking on the League’s role in ongoing conflicts in the Arab world, Adeeb asked: “Where is the Arab League’s role? I haven’t seen, for example, the League intervene and play a mediating role. I haven’t seen the League attempt to take a position related to inter-Arab conflicts. I haven’t seen the League try to stop the ongoing bloodshed in Arab conflicts.”
Aboul-Gheit replied that the League addresses all these “conflicts and wounds” through periodic meetings of foreign ministers or summits, issuing resolutions that are always agreed upon after the necessary deliberation.
The real problem, he said, lies in the will of the countries involved in the conflict.
“The Arab League is always constrained in this regard. In other words, any government in a country facing a crisis always rejects direct mediation and has its own perspective. Therefore, given the current circumstances, with foreign interventions, internal situations, and relations between Arab states, it is always preferable for us (the Arab League) to leave the lead to the United Nations — that is, for it to take the initiative while the League operates within that framework,” the secretary-general emphasized.
