Gulf Finance House (GFH), the leading Middle Eastern Islamic investment bank today announced its first quarter results of 2009.
The results come against the backdrop of a serious and continued downturn in the global economy that has left few sectors across the world unaffected. As an Islamic financial institution GFH was not exposed to the toxic asset classes that have undermined liquidity across the world, but the broader investment community has been impacted leading to extreme caution throughout the market and a reduced volume of transactions.
Total income for the first quarter is US$ 50 million, primarily due to the successful equity raising for our Energy City Libya initiative. In addition, GFH has made US$ 43 million provisions on proprietary assets – non client projects – which account for a significant proportion of this quarter’s results
Consequently, net loss for the first quarter after provisions is U$ 37.7 million.
GFH Chairman Esam Janahi commented on today’s announcement saying, “Our 1st quarter results should be seen in the context of the broader marketplace. Clearly the past three months have seen some of the toughest trading conditions faced by the financial sector in decades and we are required to adapt our business model to a changing environment.”
“To meet these challenges, we have begun this process by diversifying our business through the development of Private Equity, Asset Management and Venture Capital business lines with a focus on the more defensive sectors including agriculture. Already we are seeing early signs of recovery in the market and after a period of marked challenges, we are confident in our ability to adapt and prosper going forward.”
