9-month net income of KD 67.5 million, return on equity of 10.4%

KUWAIT: Burgan Bank K.P.S.C. (Burgan) announced its Q3 2019 financial results, highlighting strong net income of KD 22.7 million for the third quarter, translating into an impressive growth of 10.7 percent Y-o-Y.

Key factors contributing to the earnings growth are:

• Solid revenue levels of KD 61.9 million
• Reduction in operating expenses (Q3'19 KD 25.7 million vs Q3' 18 KD 25.9 million)
• Lower provisions (Q3'19 KD 9.5 million vs Q3'18 KD 17.7 million)
  This solid third quarter performance has further strengthened Burgan's 9 months' performance (9M'19) as highlighted below.

9-month 2019 revenue remained robust at KD 178.3 million on the back of stable net interest margin at 2.8 percent. Burgan also maintained an efficient cost-to-income ratio of 41.9 percent leading to operating profit of KD 103.6 million.

Burgan's cost of risk remains low at 0.8 percent while the NPL coverage ratio remains healthy at 162 percent. As a result, Burgan continues to generate strong earnings with the 9M'19 Net Income of KD 67.5 million, thereby delivering return on equity of 10.4 percent.

Burgan's relentless focus on capital efficiency in its businesses has ensured that the regulatory capital ratios are healthy with CET1 ratio of 11.0 percent, Tier 1 ratio of 13.7 percent and CAR ratio of 16.6 percent. Commenting on these results, Majed Essa Al-Ajeel, Chairman of Burgan Bank K.P.S.C. said: "We continue to deliver strong results to our shareholders, despite increased volatility in the region. These results reflect the strength of Burgan's operating model across its subsidiaries, ably supported by strong risk management framework."

Masaud M J Hayat, Vice chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Burgan Bank K.P.S.C. added, "Burgan's strong performance in the first nine months of 2019 demonstrates the bank's relentless focus on serving its customers' needs while achieving high levels of operating efficiency."

Please note that beginning this year, the Bank has revised its financial statements' closing process by changing the reporting date of its subsidiaries to one month earlier than the Group's reporting date. Accordingly, the reported financial results of the first nine month of 2019 include only eight months (i.e. January to August) performance of the subsidiaries instead of nine months as included in the prior periods. The consolidated financials encompass the results of the Group's operations in Kuwait, and its share of results from its subsidiaries, Burgan Bank Turkey, Gulf Bank Algeria, Bank of Baghdad and Tunis International Bank. Burgan Bank has one of the largest regional branch networks with 164 branches across Kuwait, Turkey, Algeria, Iraq, Tunis, Lebanon and a representative office in the United Arab Emirates.