MUSCAT : Bank Muscat, the leading financial institution in the Sultanate, has announced its preliminary unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2020. The bank posted a net profit of OMR 69.56 million for the period compared to OMR 93.65 million reported during the same period in 2019, a decrease of 25.7 per cent.

The key highlights of the results for the period are as follows:

1. Net Interest Income from Conventional Banking and Income from Islamic Financing stood at OMR 160.53 million for the six months period ended 30 June 2020 compared to OMR 159.02 million for the same period in 2019, an increase of 0.9 per cent.
2. Non-interest income was OMR 64.69 million for the six months period ended 30 June 2020 as compared to OMR 75.05 million for the same period in 2019, a decrease of 13.8 per cent mainly due to subdued business conditions due to COVID-19 related lockdowns in Q2 2020 and waiver of certain fees due to regulatory measures. 
3. Operating expenses for the six months period ended 30 June 2020 was OMR 94.03 million as compared to OMR 97.11 million for the same period in 2019, a decrease of 3.2 per cent.  
4. Net Impairment for credit and other losses for the six months period in 2020 was OMR 48.19 million as against OMR 24.99 million for the same period in 2019. The increase is mainly on account of precautionary and collective provisions being made on a forward looking basis given the emerging stress in the economic and business conditions as a result of the impact of COVID-19 and the continued pressure on oil prices.
5. Net Loans and advances including Islamic financing receivables decreased by 1.2 per cent to OMR 8,965 million as against RO 9,078 million as at 30 June 2019. The reduction in the loan book is mainly attributable to prepayment of certain large corporate exposures in the last quarter of 2019.
6. Customer deposits including Islamic Customer deposits increased by 7.3 per cent to OMR 8,562 million as against OMR 7,978 million as at 30 June 2019.

The full results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 along with the complete set of unaudited financial statements will be released following the approval of the Board of Directors of the Bank at its meeting scheduled later during July 2020.