GFH Financial Group B.S.C reported net profit attributable to shareholders at USD23.17 million for the nine-month period of 2020 compared with USD64.53 million in the first nine months of 2019, a decrease of 64.1 percent.
The primary reason for this decrease was the lower contributions from the Group’s investment banking and real estate operations, as well as fair value movements in the Group’s treasury portfolio, according to GFH.
The company reported net profit attributable to shareholders of USD8.11 million for the third quarter of 2020 compared with USD19.84 million in the third quarter of 2019, a decrease of 59.1 percent.
The Group stated on its website that the “decrease is predominantly attributable to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic which had an impact across the Group’s business lines. Earnings per share for third quarter of 2020 was US cents 0.24 compared to US cents 0.60 for the comparative quarter of 2019.
“Consolidated net profit for the third quarter was USD9.92 million compared with USD17.22 million in the third quarter of 2019, a decrease of 42.4 percent.”
Commenting on the results, Jassim Alseddiqi, Chairman of GFH, said: “For the first nine months of 2020, we remain encouraged by the resilient nature of the Group’s diverse business model. While net profit for the period was affected by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability of the Group to deliver solid income and results is an important demonstration of the underlying strength of our strategy and progress that continues to be made across each and every one of our business lines.
“We also continue to be gratified by the resounding market recognition of the sound nature of the Group’s overall financial health, performance and prospects for the future.”
CEO of GFH Hisham Alrayes said: “We are pleased with GFH’s continued strong performance and revenue generation despite the unprecedented market conditions under which the Group and our portfolio companies have been operating over the past nine months.
“Despite these challenges, we are extremely proud to have continued to make progress across the business in line with plans and our focus on further building and diversifying our position in key defensive sectors and in core markets.”
Further, he added that “having issued Sukuk during the year, we are in a good position to leverage our strong liquidity and market confidence in our strategy to move forward with opportunities we see for both organic and inorganic growth in our businesses.
"Also, while economic conditions remain strained, we have been successful in identifying unique new investment targets, establishing a strong deal pipeline on which we are now ready and intend to capitalize.”
