Abdulwahab Al-Roshood, Group Chief Treasury Officer at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) said that the Q1 profits mainly resulted from revenue items of the core banking activities. Total finance income grew 9.5% to KD 228.4 million in Q1 compared to the same period of 2018. The total operating revenues rose 7.1% to KD 196.8 million in Q1 2019 compared to the same period of last year.

He added that the exit of investments in the first quarter of 2019 totaled KD 23.7 million, resulting in KD 9.9 million profits compared to KD 1.5 million in the first quarter of 2018. KFH focuses on exiting its non- strategic investments to build high-quality assets and enhance capital adequacy ratio.

Al-Roshood explained that the Group`s Non- performing financings declined to %1.88 as per CBK calculations compared to % 1.99 at the end of 2018. The coverage of non- performing financings reached 488.24% at KFH- Kuwait, and 258.02% for the Group at the end of Q1 2019.

Commenting on KFH financial results in TV interviews, Al-Roshood said that KFH`s subsidiaries contribution forms about 39.1% of the net operating income, reflecting the Group's efficiency.

He affirmed that KFH managed, according to planned scenarios, to overcome the challenges in Turkey, noting that all financial indicators of KFH-Turkey were good and above the minimum regulatory requirements.

Al Roshood added: " In spite of Turkish Lira depreciation, KFH is achieving strong and continuous growth rates on all levels including the financing portfolio, gross assets and profits. Thanks to the expansion of financing activities in Turkey and the diversified portfolio of KFH-Turkey, KFH succeeded in building high-quality assets. This reflected positively on the stability, diversity and balance of the portfolio in the face of the recent fluctuations and their impact on the value of the Lira. It also helped build strong buffers against any possible negative effects."

Regarding the possible exit plan from KFH-Malaysia, Al Roshood said: " It is a possible choice because of the hard-competitive environment in Malaysia given the glut of banks and the regulations which allow the conventional and Islamic banks to work under one umbrella. KFH is committed to pure Islamic banking as opposed to the dual giant banks operating there.

KFH reported net profit of KD 51.6 Million for the first quarter of 2019 for KFH shareholders compared to KD 44 Million for the same period last year i.e. an increase of 17.4%.

Earnings per share for the first quarter of 2019 reached 7.50 fils, compared to 6.39 fils for the same period last year i.e. an increase of 17.4 %.