KUWAIT: Kuwait’s biggest Islamic lender, Kuwait Finance House (KFH) reported a 24 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit yesterday thanks to its restructuring programme but the numbers fell short of analyst estimates. KFH said last year it was reshuffling its top management and planned to work with advisors to sell, merge or restructure unprofitable subsidiaries after a fall in profits in 2011.
“The growth in KFH’s 2012 financial results confirms the success of KFH’s Transformation Programme,” KFH Chairman Mohammad Al Khudairi, said in an emailed statement, saying this had put the group on the right track for sustainable profits.
In the fourth quarter of 2012 net profit was KD11.8m, according to a Reuters calculation based on financial statements, compared to KD9.54m in the same period a year earlier.
Saudi Maaden restarts plant
KHOBAR: A subsidiary of Saudi mining firm Maaden restarted a diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser plant in Ras Al Khair on Saturday after it shut it down for maintenance during a period of low seasonal demand, Maaden said. Maaden will ramp up output today as scheduled, it said late on Saturday in a bourse statement. In January, the Saudi firm said the three-week shutdown would have no impact on its ability to meet its obligations to customers of the industrial fertilizer and that the ammonia plant at Ras Al Khair would continue to operate normally. reuters
