KUWAIT: Noor Financial Investment Company held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the financial year ended 31st December 2015 with an attendance of 54.85%. The meeting was chaired by Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr Fahd Suliman Al-Khaled.
Dr Al-Khaled mentioned that the year 2015 witnessed events that resulted in difficult challenges for the global economies especially continuous decline in oil prices which led to negative consequences on the international and regional capital markets. However, Noor was able to achieve a net profit attributable to the shareholders of KD 1,333,267 for the year with a growth of 45% compared to the previous year and earnings per share of 3.31Fils.The Group had total assets of KD 186,015,629 as of December 31, 2015.
Dr Al-Khaled disclosed that Noor has successfully existed its listed equities of around KD 14 million with realized gain of KD 1.7 million during the year as per the Board of Directors resolution to reduce its investment portfolio in the regional listed equities and that the company was able to achieve successful partial exit from private equity investment in China generating KD 1.5 million of fee income in addition to the realized gain on the investment.
On the other hand, Dr Al-Khaled has added that Meezan Bank in Pakistan has been consistently generating high returns on equity through owning assets of more than US$ 5 Billion with a network of over 550 branches as well as a recent addition of the valuable branchless banking license which is spread across a network of 120,000 agents.
Dr Al-Khaled added, that Noor has taken important steps towards improving the operational performance of its subsidiaries including expansion of Hotels Global Group in Jordan through operating a transit hotel inside the new the Queen Alia International Airport Terminal since February 2015.
Dr Al-Khaled pointed out that Noor is proceeding at a steady pace in the payment of its financial obligations towards its lenders. After settling KD 58 million towards its debt since 2012, Noor has reduced its debt to KD 96.7 million on a standalone basis as of 31 March 2016 which is expected to be settled over next five years.
At the conclusion of AGM, the shareholders approved Board of Directors’ Report, Auditors’ report and Financial Statements for the year 2015. Shareholders have also approved the Board of Directors’ recommendation not to distribute dividends for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.
