Dubai – Mubasher: Shuaa Capital has turned to losses in the first quarter of 2019, suffering a net loss of AED 24.9 million, against a net profit of AED 11.7 million in Q1-18.
Revenues grew to AED 55.4 million in the three-month period ended 31 March 2019, versus AED 33.2 million in Q1-18, the Dubai-based investment bank said in a statement.
Turning to losses was mainly driven by “certain one-off provisions and a change in accounting standards,” the company highlighted.
Fawad Tariq-Khan, chief executive of Shuaa Capital, said: “Our core operating businesses of investment banking, capital markets and asset management continued to grow in profitability, while certain one-off provisions and higher financing costs dragged our overall results into a loss.”
“That said, our continued growth in our core operations continues our strategy of solidifying our recurring revenue base taking us towards sustained long-term profitability,” Tariq-Khan added.
The company’s capital markets division turned profitable in Q1-19, recording AED 2.7 million in profits, against losses of AED 1.7 million in the year-ago period.
Moreover, the company’s investment banking division logged AED 1.1 million in profits in Q1-19, versus AED 0.6 million in losses in Q1-18.
Asset management suffered losses of AED 3.1 million in the January-March period of 2019, versus profits of AED 4.1 million in the prior-year period.
The lending division incurred losses of AED 4.4 million in the first three months of 2019, compared to AED 2.2 million in profit Q1-18, while corporate division posted losses of AED 21.2 million.
Shuaa Capital’s balance sheet and total assets stood at AED 2.2 billion at the end of March, compared to AED 2.1 billion as at 31 December 2018, according to the statement.
The group’s liquidity position was solid in Q1-19 with AED 572.7 million in cash and net assets of AED 790.2 million attributable to the shareholders.
