Doha Bank , Qatar's fifth-largest lender by market value, will go ahead with its plans to increase its capital. The Bank chairman Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammad bin Jabor Al Thani yesterday announced that the Extraordinary General Assembly approved the Board's decision to increase its capital by 50 percent.
In the first phase, the bank will increase its capital by 25 percent of the current paid-up share capital through the issuance of 51,674,450 new shares to the existing shareholders at a price of QR30 per share representing a premium of QR20 in addition to a nominal value of QR10 per share.
Subscription will be open from next Thursday till 1pm on Wednesday, March 13.
The remaining 25 percent would be raised in the second phase through the issuance of new shares, in the form of Global Depositary Receipts (GDR), to be held by a strategic shareholder being the depository bank, and the Global Depositary Receipts to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Doha Bank 's existing shareholders shall waive their pre-emptive right to subscribe these new shares to allow the depository bank to directly subscribe for such shares.
The shareholders meeting granted the Board of Directors full authority to execute the second phase including the date of issuance of these shares, the amount of share premium and the related terms and conditions, provided that the share price, inclusive of premium, shall not be less than 90 percent of the market price of the Company's ordinary shares as traded on the Qatar Exchange at the date of issue.
In a separate meeting yesterday, the Bank's Ordinary General Assembly of Shareholders endorsed, the Balance Sheet and the Profit & Loss Accounts for the financial year ended on December 31, 2012. It also endorsed the recommendation of the Board of Directors to distribute cash dividends to shareholders of QR 4.5 per share. In the meeting, the Chairman disclosed that Al Khaleej Takaful Group, represented by Khalid Abdul Aziz Al Baker, was elected as a new member of the Board of Directors. The new membership shall expire at the end of the term of the current Board.
The Bank's assets rose by 4.7 percent reaching to QR55.2bn and total portfolio of loans and advances rose by 8.9 percent. While total customers' deposit rose by 8.5 percent, the shareholders' equity rose by 6.6 percent reaching to QR7.6bn, Sheikh Fahad noted.
"We achieved a growth rate of 5.1 percent in net profit whereas the net profit….,in addition to a growth rate equivalent to 3.6 percent in total operational income. These robust results were reflected in strong performance ratios particularly the return on average shareholders' equity and the return on average assets which were 20.6 percent and 2.42 percent respectively", he said.
The Peninsula
21 February
