Shuaa revenue up over 100% in Q3

Shuaa Capital on Sunday declared a more-than-100 per cent increase in its revenues for the third quarter, compared to the same period last year, while also posted a lower third-quarter loss over 2011. The Dubai-based investment bank reported third-quarter revenues of Dh34.9 million over Dh16.3 million last year, underpinned by returns from Shuaa’s lending business, asset management and from investments in Shuaa-managed funds. While the bank recorded an overall loss for the third quarter period of Dh13.9 million over last year’s same-period loss of Dh156.2 million, the quarter saw a major improvement over the prior year. “The third-quarter results prove that we took the right decisions to reduce our cost base against the uncertain market environment, exit non-core businesses and investments, focus on liquidity management, and reduce the volatility in our asset base. We have a clear plan to reach profitability and I am pleased that we continue to move in the right direction,” said Shaikh Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum, executive chairman of Shuaa Capital. “Our strategy implementation is making good progress. We are transforming Shuaa to a fully-integrated investment banking services platform to meet the demands of our client base, redeploying our balance sheet while maintaining cost and risk control. We have already begun to expand our credit offering and are managing for profitability in our equities businesses,” he added. During the nine-month period ended September 30, 2012, the group recorded a reduced loss of Dh38.3 million, principally due to a rise nine-month 2012 revenues to Dh112.1 million from Dh79.2 million in nine months last year. The rise in revenues was supported by gains from other Investments of Dh10.4 million compared to losses of Dh38 million in the first nine months of 2011. The reduced loss was supported by nine-month 2012 total expenses, which saw a substantial drop to Dh160.1 million. The company’s balance sheet remains strong with total assets of Dh1.4 billion. The group has retained a healthy cash balance of Dh343.6 million at the period’s end, up 26 per cent from Dh272.2 million at the end of June 2012. Liabilities were further reduced by Dh31 million to Dh298.1 million at the end of the third quarter of 2012. From : Khalij