LIA sale boosts Audi’s net profits

Deposits fall after $1.2 billion
is withdrawn from Bank Audi Syria

Bank Audi’s first semester financial results for 2012 revealed a 28 percent year-on-year surge in net profits which reached $230 million. Most of this increase was due to the sale of an 81 percent majority stake in the bank’s insurance subsidiary, LIA Insurance.

Audi’s customary activity resulted in a 5.6 percent y-o-y increase in profits. The Group’s consolidated assets diminished to $28.8 billion by the end of June 2012 from $29.08 billion a year earlier and consolidated deposits fell from $25.07 billion to $24.7 billion, after $1.2 billion where withdrawn from its Syrian operation over the last year and a half.

The banking group’s shareholders’ equity increased by 13 percent y-o-y to $2.6 billion that bringing its ‘Basle III capital adequacy ratio’ to 12.2 percent, versus a 10 percent ‘minimum regulatory requirement’ as mentioned in the bank’s statement.

Excluding the sale of their majority stake in LIA, Audi’s return on average assets ROAA was 1.3 percent while return on average common equity (ROCE) was 16.6 percent.

Reported by Hani Bathiche