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Islamic Bank of Britain H1 loss widens |
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UK -
Islamic Investments
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Source: Shariabanking.net
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Friday, 08 September 2006 |
LONDON (AFX) - Islamic
Bank of Britain PLC reported a bigger first-half loss, held back by a
surge in costs as the group more than doubled its branch network.
The
bank, which offers financial services that comply with Islamic law to
customers in the UK, said its pretax loss for the six months to June 30
widened to 4.2 mln stg from 3.7 mln stg in the same period last year.
The deterioration reflected higher costs, which rose 45 pct on the year
to 5.4 mln stg as the bank opened four new branches, taking its total
network to seven.
Net income was up 20 pct at 1.2 mln stg, fuelled by strong growth in
customer numbers. The bank had 23,459 customers by the end of June, a
67 pct increase compared with the end of December.
The bank's chairman, Abdul Rahman Abdul Malik, said it was poised to
benefit from legislative changes in the 2006 Finance Bill which remove
tax restrictions on certain Islamic financing products.
He said the changes 'will enable us to promote a much wider range of
financing services to the personal and small business customer'.
Shares in Islamic Bank of Britain closed at 14 pence yesterday, valuing the company at 59 mln stg.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 January 2007 )
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