Dubai’s Shuaa Capital narrowed its net loss 73 percent in the fourth quarter, as the investment bank’s brokerage and private equity operations returned to profit and its corporate division curbed losses.
The investment bank said in a statement that it cut its fourth quarter net loss to $42.02 million from a loss of $157.2 million a year earlier.
Shuaa reported a net loss of $144.2 million for 2009 – including investment impairment charges of $84.99 million and provisions of $57.3 million – compared to a loss of $242.1 million in 2008.
In the statement, Majid al Gurair, chairman, said: “We … have passed critical milestones on our own path to recovery. Our brokerage, asset management, finance and private equity business produced positive contributions to the bottom line but write downs and provisions offset these profits during 2009.”
Impairment charges amounted to $14.4 million and Shuaa took provisions of $24.44 million in the fourth quarter, the statement said.
Several banks in the Gulf Arab region have posted weaker earnings due mainly to the global economic slowdown and provisions for loan losses.
Shuaa’s corporate division’s loss fell to $44.21 million in the quarter from a loss of $156.08 a year earlier, while the brokerage made a profit of $1.33 million, rebounding from a loss of $653,416 in the year earlier period.
The private equity division recorded a profit of $816,771, compared to a loss of $653, 416 in the last quarter of 2008.
Short and medium-term debt was reduced to 483.3 million dirhams at end-2009 from 1.38 billion dirhams a year earlier, the statement said. (Reuters)
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