Takaful to list shares next month 

Thursday, Oct 13, 2011

Gulf News

Abu Dhabi-based Islamic insurance firm National Takaful Company, or Watania Takaful, will list its shares on the Abu Dhabi bourse on November 14, more than six months after its $22.50million (Dh82.62 million) initial public offering, two people familiar with the matter said yesterday. “The company got the necessary approvals to list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on November 14, right after the Eid vacation,” one banker aware of the deal, who declined to be identified, told Zawya Dow Jones. ADX officials couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. 

Nakilat

Qatar Gas Transport Co, known as Nakilat, is studying the use of LNG instead of bunker fuel in its vessels. “In the event this study favourably concludes operational and economic benefits, the charterers, in cooperation with Nakilat, will determine the number of vessels to be refitted,” the company said in a statement to the Qatar bourse yesterday. “If a decision is made to proceed with the refitting of some of the vessels, the charterers of those vessels will bear the full cost of this refit with no financial impact to Nakilat.” Qatar is “seriously considering” the use of gas to run its LNG tankers, the nation’s Oil Minister Mohammad Al Sada said.

Zain Saudi

Telecom operator Zain Saudi made another loss in the third quarter, missing forecasts and pushing the company closer to a capital restructuring to keep it within limits required by the bourse. The results push accumulated losses at Zain Saudi, which is 25 per cent owned by Kuwait’s Zain, to about 9.2 billion riyals (Dh9.18 billion), or 66 per cent of its paid-up capital. Bourse rules say listed firms must cut their capital if losses exceed 75 per cent, cancelling some of the accumulated losses. Zain Saudi has been in the news in recent weeks when a $950 million deal to sell Zain’s quarter stake in the Saudi firm fell apart in September, and on Tuesday its chief executive Sa’ad Al Barrak resigned. Zain Saudi shares were down 0.84 per cent at 1018 GMT, taking their losses to 24 per cent in 2011. The telecom operator reported a net loss of 484 million riyals in the quarter ended September 30, compared with 544 million riyals a year earlier.

Bank Muscat

Oman’s Bank Muscat yesterday said its third-quarter net profit rose 18.5 per cent on higher customer deposits and an increase in loans. The bank’s third-quarter profit rose to 29.82 million Omani riyals (Dh284.22 million) from 25.16 million riyals in the same quarter in 2010, according to calculations based on data from Zawya.com and an earnings statement on the Muscat stock exchange where the lender is listed. The bank didn’t provide a quarterly breakdown. The third-quarter result is in line with the 29.9 million riyals estimate by Oman-based Gulf Baader Capital Markets. The bank’s nine-month net profit rose to 87.1 million riyals from 72.2 million riyals in the first nine months of 2009. Bank Muscat said impairments for credit losses for the first nine months in 2011 stood at 40.9 million riyals compared to 30.1 million riyals for the nine-month period in 2010. It also said there was an increase in impairments for credit losses in third quarter “due to collective provision” without being more specific.

NCB

Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB) posted an almost doubling in third-quarter profit to 1.55 billion riyals compared with 828 million riyals a year-ago, according to an e-mailed statement. Net special commission income increased 4.1 per cent from the same period last year, it said.

Barclays Wealth

The head of investment advisory of Barclays Wealth for the Middle East and North Africa, Khurram Jafree, resigned, according to an official at the bank, who declined to be identified.

Doha Bank

Qatar’s Doha Bank, the country’s fifth lender by market value, said nine-month profit rose 13 per cent to 1 billion riyals. The company made the announcement in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Source : http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidGN_12102011_131015/Takaful_to_list_shares_next_month