Ahli Bank Q.P.S.C. (ABQK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. It's the Ahli Bank team. Welcome to investor conference call. I'm joined by Trevor and Johny. We'll just walk you through some numbers and tell you what happened during this current financial year. Yes. Hello? Or should we wait for some more people to join? Okay. So we'll start. So it's been a steady year for Ahli Bank 2024. Net profit grew by 6.6%. It's all-time record QAR 892 million in terms of number. Loans and advances growth was soft, but once again, I would say, satisfactory. Customer deposits grew by 8.5% at about QAR 32 billion. So I think these numbers reflect another very steady performance from Ahli Bank, which is also in line with what we have been discussing every quarter with you, people. So there's a slight drop in total assets. That's because we repaid one EMTN tranche of USD 500 million. So that was the reason while the total assets will show a slight drop. That's a summary in terms of numbers. We also have another good growth in proprietary investments, touched QAR 9.4 billion, all-time record once again primarily driven by investments in bonds. So we all know that there's an interest rate scenario that is developing, which, at the beginning of the year, we are supposed to see some real drop in interest rates, but it is steady right now. But that was the rationale for us to get some long-term bonds with some yield pickup. So -- and it's doing very well for us. So it's -- we have overweight on bonds as always, and primarily [ SOQ ] bonds in -- denominated in dollars. That's also qualified as HQLA, which is high-quality liquid assets. So that's one of the drivers for offsetting the drop in overall assets, a growth in investment portfolio. So this is the total overall book and some key numbers I'm going to talk to you all, which is the asset quality. I'll just pause here. If you have any questions, anybody has joined or if you have any questions, we'll be happy to take. Okay. So we move on, slightly diving deeper into the P&L. So the key drivers were net interest income growth, which grew by about 17%. Overall operating expenses were steady. There was a growth in operating income. And once again, on the asset quality side, which has an impact on the P&L, we did some provisioning on the conservative side. There were some recoveries also. So overall, it's a -- provision numbers have gone up year-over-year, but that is in line with what we have been discussing with you all during our quarter end investor call and so on. So there isn't any change in terms of trajectory. Steady growth in P&L, QAR 892 million, about [ 6.59% ] growth. And overall, it's a place where we want to be in, and it is line with our overall forecast. So one second, I'll pause. If you have any questions, please let us know. We have been joined by Johny and Trevor with me. If you have any questions, we can -- we'll be happy to answer. Thank you. So I'll just pause a little bit.

Good morning, everyone. So this is Johny, General Counsel and Board Secretary of Ahli Bank. Yesterday, the Board met and approved the financials and the profits and proposed dividends at the rate of 25%, subject to QCB approval and general assembly approval, which is planned to be held on the 26th of February. And afterwards, the central depository will handle the distribution of the dividends. Please let us know if you have any further questions, and we're happy to clarify. Thank you.

So as always, if there is any query, any question, you can also drop in an e-mail to us, and we'll be more than happy to respond with any questions. So I'll just cover some important numbers in terms of asset quality. So we had an NPL ratio of 2.91%, which is slightly more than last year, but within industry-beating number. So normally, you can see for a conventional bank, some of there are -- it's about 3.5% to 5%. So we have outperformed the markets in this metric. And the total coverage, NPL coverage is about [ 238% ]. So as we discuss the P&L, we have been very conservative in provisioning. That is a trend you'll see quarter-over-quarter, and we have been discussing that with you all every single quarter. So this is in line with our projections and our discussions with you all. So no surprises. So we ended the year very -- in a very satisfactory -- with outcome of which we can call very satisfactory, with a growth of about -- P&L growth of about 6.6%, QAR 892 million. This is the all-time record in the history of this bank in terms of profitability. So that is the summary of what we wanted to discuss with you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us. We have -- I'm joined by Trevor and Johny here in this call as we always do with you every single quarter. So I'll pause once again. If there is any question, please feel free to ask. Thank you. Good morning. For those who have joined late, I'll just repeat, very quickly give you a summary. So our net profit grew by 6.6%. It's been a performance which is in line with the forecast. We have been discussing that with you all quarter-over-quarter. So it is in line with the forecast we have given. Loans and advances had a steady growth of 2.6%. Customer deposit grew by 8.5%. The numbers are in public domain. You can download the numbers or ask -- drop e-mail to us if you have any questions. We'll be more than happy to answer that, get back to you ASAP. So a slight drop in assets, but that is because we have repaid one EMTN tranche of $500 million. So -- but the offset is coming from loans and advances and investment -- proprietary investments, which is primarily driven by our bond portfolio. Net profit, once again, we discussed. We've made some conservative provision. And that's something to do with asset quality, with NPL ratio of 2.91% that grew slightly more than last year. I think we still -- we think it is industry-beating number. And coverage of about [ 238% ]. It's been a steady performance. No surprises at all. And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Thank you. So good morning. Once again, my name is Shankar. I'm joined by Johny and Trevor. So if there is any questions, I think I've not heard any questions from anybody. So if there is any question on our results, please feel free to drop an e-mail, and we will be more than happy to respond. The numbers are in public domain. You can download that and get back to us any time. So if there is nothing else, then we will close this call. Thank you very much for joining. Thanks much. Thank you. Goodbye.