The Bank Muscat board of directors has approved the company’s financial results and proposed a 15.5% dividend for the year 2023, equivalent to RO 0.0155 per ordinary share and aggregating to RO 116.349 million on the Bank’s existing share capital.
The Bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) after the cash dividend payout will be 21.22% which is well above the regulatory minimum.
Results breakdown
The bank – considered the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate – previously reported a 5.8% net profit growth in 2023, reaching RO 212.45 million from OMR200.75 million in 2022. The growth was mainly attributed to improvement in the operating performance.
Bank Muscat’s report showed that net interest income from conventional banking and net income from Islamic financing stood at RO 374.82 million at the end of 2023, an increase of 8.7% year-on-year. Moreover, non-interest income reached RO 138.0 million an increase of 2.1% compared to 2022 – or 8.6% if excluding the one-time investment gain of around RO 8 million.
Operating expenses for the year were RO 196.39 million as compared to RO 184.52 million for the same period in 2022, an increase of 6.4%.
Net impairment for credit and other losses was RO 64.66 million as against RO 59.94 million in 2022. As of 31 December 2023, the total provisions of the bank stood at 1.6 times of the non-performing loans providing a strong provision coverage.
Net loans and advances including Islamic financing receivables increased by 4.9% to RO 9,877 million against RO 9,417 million in December 2022.
Overall, Omani banks listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) recorded net profits of RO453.5 million in 2023, an 18.6% increase from 2022, when they recorded a profit of RO382.3 million.
