Published: August 12, 2012
Bahraini investment bank sees bottom line head into the red but still reports profit rise for H1.
Bahraini investment bank Securities & Investment Company (SICO) saw a first-quarter profit turn to a loss during the second quarter of the year.
SICO's Q2 results, published Sunday, revealed an operating income of BD859,000 (US$2.2mn), compared with BD2.25mn a year previously, and a loss of BD292,000. In the first quarter, the bank had made a profit of BD1.35mn.
The latest results take the bank's H1 profit to BD1.06mn, still a 112% rise on the same period in 2011.
Announcing the results, Anthony Mallis, SICO's CEO, noted that work in the debt and Islamic finance markets had proved a particular boon to the bank's business in recent months. “
"These turbulent investment conditions were discouraging to most investors, with many staying on the sidelines, but with the more active investors taking a keen interest in the sukuk and conventional bond markets," Mallis said. "The regional sukuk/bond market has been particularly active during the second quarter of 2012, which in our opinion is a positive as it expands further the regional capital markets’ product range."