Kuwait Finance House Q4'20 profit drops YOY

Kuwait Finance House KSCP posted fourth-quarter 2020 net profit attributable to owners of the parent company of 47.2 million Kuwaiti dinars, down from 60.5 million dinars a year earlier.

EPS for the period was 6.20 fils, compared to 7.98 fils in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The lender's net operating profit for the quarter amounted to 97.8 million dinars, down from the year-ago 117.1 million dinars.

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For the 2020 full year, KFH's attributable net profit dropped 40.9% to 148.4 million dinars from 251.0 million dinars in 2019. EPS for 2020 was 19.52 fils, down from the year-ago 33.12 fils.

The bank booked an investment loss of 6.4 million dinars for 2020, versus an investment income of 130.2 million dinars a year earlier, driving KFH's lower full-year profit along with higher provisions and impairment charges, which reached 284.1 million dinars compared to the year-ago 196.9 million dinars.

Net financing income reached 614.2 million dinars, up from 530.3 million dinars in 2019. Fees and commissions income dropped year over year to 73.1 million dinars from 79.1 million dinars.

KFH booked 296.0 million dinars in total operating expenses for the period, down from 304.3 million dinars in 2019.

As of Feb. 4, US$1 was equivalent to 0.30 Kuwaiti dinars.