Bank Muscat shareholders granted approval for the payout of 30 per cent dividend for 2015 and elected board of directors for a 3-year period from 2016-2019, subject to regulatory approvals, at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the bank’s head office.
The uncontested new board of directors met and elected Sheikh Khalid bin Mustahail Al Mashani as Chairman, and Sulaiman bin Mohamed Al Yahyai as Vice-Chairman. The board of directors also formed the board committees and nominated their chairpersons.
Continuing the bank’s strong dividend payment track record, the shareholders approved 25 per cent cash dividend for the year 2015 which is consistent with the cash dividend paid in the last five years. In addition, 5 per cent dividend in the form of bonus shares was also approved. The bank has retained sufficient level of profits to further strengthen the capital base and be better positioned for possible future challenging market conditions.
Shaikh Khalid bin Mustahail Al Mashani, Chairman, presided at the AGM. Shaikh Khalid said: “Amid the challenging economic and financial situation marked by low oil prices, the key business lines of the bank recorded healthy performance on expected lines.”
Bank Muscat shareholders would receive cash dividend of RO 0.025 per ordinary share of RO 0.100 each aggregating to RO 57.29 million on the bank’s existing share capital. In addition, they would receive bonus shares in the proportion of one share for every 20 ordinary shares aggregating to 114,591,130 shares of RO 0.100 each amounting to RO 11.46 million.
The bank posted a net profit of RO 175.45 million in 2015 compared to RO 163.23 million reported in 2014, an increase of 7.5 per cent. The basic earnings per share were RO 0.077 in 2015 as against RO 0.071 in 2014. The banks’ capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.10 per cent as on 31 December 2015 after appropriation for proposed dividend for the year 2015 against the minimum required level of 12.625 per cent as per Basel III regulations issued by the Central Bank of Oman.
Net loans and advances from conventional operation increased by 4.9 per cent to RO 6,695 million as against RO 6,386 million as at 31 December 2014. Customer deposits, including CDs from the conventional operations increased by 6.2 per cent to RO 6,738 million as against RO 6,345 million as at 31 December 2014.
Islamic financing receivables amounted to RO 635 million as of 31 December 2015 compared to RO 400 million in the same period of 2014. Islamic banking customer deposits amounted to RO 625 million as of 31 December 2015 compared to RO 283 million reported on 31 December 2014.