Bank Muscat proposes cash and stock dividend

Muscat: Bank Muscat, the leading financial services provider in the Sultanate, has proposed a 30 per cent dividend payment to shareholders for the year ended 2015.
Continuing the bank’s strong dividend payment track record, the board of directors has proposed a 25 per cent cash dividend for 2015, which is consistent with the cash dividend paid in the last five years.
In addition, a 5 per cent dividend in the form of bonus shares has also been proposed. The bank has retained a sufficient level of profits to further strengthen the capital base and be better positioned for possible future challenging market conditions.
A meeting of the board of directors chaired by Sheikh Khalid bin Mustahail Al Mashani, chairman, on January 26, approved the 2015 financial results and dividend payout, subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and shareholders of the bank. “Amid the challenging economic and financial situation marked by low oil prices, the key business lines of the bank recorded healthy performance on expected lines,” said Sheikh Khalid bin Mustahail Al Mashani.
Shareholders will receive a cash dividend of OMR0.025 per ordinary share of OMR0.100 each aggregating to OMR57.29 million on the bank’s existing share capital. In addition, they would receive bonus shares in the proportion of one share for every 20 ordinary shares aggregating to 114,591,130 shares of OMR0.100 each amounting to OMR11.46 million.
The proposed cash dividend and issuance of bonus shares are subject to the formal approval of the annual general meeting of the shareholders and regulatory authorities.
The bank had posted a net profit of OMR175.45 million in 2015, compared to OMR163.23million reported in 2014, reflecting an increase of 7.5 per cent. The basic earnings per share were OMR0.077 in 2015, against OMR0.071 in 2014. The banks’ capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.10 per cent as on December 31, 2015 after appropriation for proposed dividend for the year 2015 against the minimum required level of 12.625 per cent as per Basel III regulations issued by CBO.
Net loans and advances from conventional operations increased by 4.9 per cent to OMR 6,695 million as against OMR6,386 million, as of December 31, 2014. Customer deposits, including CDs from conventional operations increased by 6.2 per cent to OMR6,738 million as against OMR6,345 million as of December 31, 2014.
Islamic financing receivables amounted to OMR635 million as of December 31, 2015, compared to OMR400 million during the same period of 2014. The Islamic banking customer deposits amounted to OMR625 million as of December 31, 2015, compared to OMR283 million reported on December 31, 2014.