Bank Sohar, an Omani lender, posted a 50 per cent increase in first-half profit as loans and deposits rose. Net income rose to RO10.4 million from RO6.9 million a year earlier, the Muscat-based lender said in a statement to the local stock market yesterday. Net loans and advances increased 12 per cent to RO1.1 billion, while deposits surged 33 per cent to RO1.31 billion. Net profit for first quarter of 2012 stood at RO5.032 million, declining by 5.6 per cent from that of RO5.330 million recorded for the first quarter of the year, according to Al Maha Research. Gross loans and advances by the Bank grew by 12.3 per cent year-on-year to reach RO1.125 billion as on June 30, 2012 from RO1.001 billion as at the end of first half of 2011. On a sequential basis, credit witnessed a growth of 4.3 per cent in the second quarter from RO1.078 billion as on March 31, 2012. Customer deposits reached RO1.309 billion at the end of first half of 2012, registering a growth of 32.5 per cent year-on-year and 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Operating income for the six months stood at RO25.428 million as compared to RO20.727 million during the corresponding period last year, showing a year-on-year increase of 22.7 per cent. Operating income grew by 2.4 per cent during second quarter of 2012 to reach RO12.865 million from RO12.564 million recorded for the first quarter of 2011. Bank Sohar currently trades at an annualised PE of 7.1 and PBV of 1.1 which are at a discount to the banking sector PE (TTM) of 9.1 and PBV of 1.3. The stock also trades at a discount to its historic quarterly average PE of 9.3. The stock has declined seven per cent this year compared with the 2.4 per cent drop for the benchmark MSM 30 index. timesofoman
