Kuwait Finance House 2011 profit drops 24 percent

Kuwait Finance House 2011 profit drops 24 percent

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) , the country's largest Islamic bank, said on Wednesday its profit fell by 24 percent in 2011, as the lender put aside money to meet investment losses.

February 15, 2012 2:35 by Reuters

Profit for the year fell to 80.3 million dinars ($289 million) from 106 million dinars in 2010, the lender said in a statement.

The bank made 9.6 million Kuwait dinars in the fourth quarter last year, based on Reuters calculations, compared with an estimated profit of 20 million for the period.

The lender said its board is recommending the distribution of a cash dividend of 15 fils per share, and bonus shares representing 15 percent of paid up capital.

The sharia compliant partnered with Grosvenor Investment Management US (GIM) to invest up to $600 million in healthcare-related real estate, it said in October.

The Saudi unit of Kuwait Finance House, the Gulf state’s largest Islamic bank, made a 360 million riyals ($96 million) profit from the sale of a real estate project in the kingdom, the bank said in a regulatory filing in January.

KFH said it sold the project for 1.5 billion riyals and that proceeds will be reflected in the bank’s first quarter financial results for this year.

KFH’s shares were up 1.2 percent at 0840 GMT on Wednesday. ($1 = 0.2780 Kuwaiti dinars) (Reporting by Mahmoud Habboush; Editing by Amran Abocar)