Bank to pay 5% cash dividends, 5% in bonus shares   

KUWAIT: Burgan Bankís Chairman Majed Essa Al-Ajeel highlights the positive performance of Burgan Bank Group in 2016 during the bankís Shafafiyah Forum yesterday

KUWAIT: Burgan Bank held its Ordinary and Extraordinary General Assembly meeting and Al-Shafafiya Investors forum yesterday at the KIPCO Tower, wherein the Board of Directors presented the bank's financial earnings report for the year ended December 31, 2016 and agreed to pay a cash dividend of 5 percent and 5 percent in bonus shares.

The bank closed the financial year 2016 with strong results and realized a solid operating and financial performance which continued reflecting a faster than market growth almost in all indicators, mirroring the soundness of Burgan Bank's resilient business model and its strategy execution.

Shafafiya forum

Following the Annual General Assembly Meetings, Burgan Bank held its annual Shafafiya forum which serves as a platform for the bank's management to present the main events for 2016 as well as its outlook for 2017 to shareholders.

Excluding the discontinued operations resulting from the sale of Jordan Kuwait bank in December 2015, Burgan Bank Group reported net income of KD 68 million, up 12 percent from KD61 million reported in 2015. Earnings per share stood at 28 fils, up by 15 percent from 25 fils in 2015. Adjusted for foreign currencies devaluation, core revenues for 2016 reached KD236 million mirroring 8 percent Year-on-year growth. Loans and advances to customers grew by 7 percent reaching KD 4.3 billion.

Non-performing Assets ratio net of collateral dropped to 1 percent with coverage ratio net of collaterals reaching 407 percent up from 332 percent in 2015. Basel 3 Capital Adequacy Ratio stands at 16.7 percent at the end of December 31, 2016.

Highlighting the positive performance of Burgan Bank Group in 2016, Burgan Bank's Chairman, Majed Essa Al-Ajeel said:  "The solid performance in 2016 is merely a reflection of the strong strategic intent of building throughout the last 6 years a resilient business model that has enabled Burgan Bank to respond swiftly to headwinds stemming from the volatilities of exchange rates, financial markets and geopolitical pressures."

Eduardo Eguren, Burgan Bank's Group Chief Executive Officer noted that 2016 was a remarkable year on the strategic level for Burgan Bank and said: "The group continued to reap the benefits of its resilient business model. Our growth inertia momentum was preserved as we continued to grow faster than the market without sacrificing pricing and risk, our capital was optimized to meet regulatory requirements under Basel 3 without the need to undertake a dilutive capital hike, we identified innovative opportunities to expand our business through new platforms and hence continued to add new capabilities to our business model. We managed to expand on calculated growth plans, adapt to change, remain resilient to a less favorable operating environments and markets volatility. "

The Shafafiya Forum is an annual event that is held amongst Kuwait Projects Company's (KIPCO) subsidiaries, and reflects a strong corporate governance practice, which promotes corporate fairness, transparency and accountability. The forum provides an ideal platform to discuss financial reports and outlook as well as market predictions openly with shareholders.

Established in 1977, Burgan Bank is the youngest conventional Bank and second largest by assets in Kuwait, with a significant focus on the corporate and financial institutions sectors, as well as having a growing retail, and private bank customer base. Burgan Bank has majority owned subsidiaries in the MENAT region supported by one of the largest regional branch networks.

The Bank has continuously improved its performance over the years through an expanded revenue structure, diversified funding sources, and a strong capital base. The adoption of state-of-the-art services and technology has positioned it as a trendsetter in the domestic market and within the MENA region. Burgan Bank's brand has been created on a foundation of real values - of trust, commitment, excellence and progression, to remind us of the high standards to which we aspire. 'People come first' is the foundation on which its products and services are developed.