Muscat – Bank Muscat has reported a net profit of RO225.58mn for the full year ended December 31, 2024, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 6.2% compared to the RO212.45mn net profit reported in the previous year.

The sultanate’s largest financial institution announced its preliminary unaudited results for 2024 on Wednesday.

Bank Muscat’s net interest income from conventional banking and net income from Islamic financing rose by 6.1% to RO397.7mn in 2024, compared to RO374.82mn in 2023. Non-interest income amounted to RO145mn, compared to RO138mn for the same period in 2023, marking an increase of 5.1%.

The bank’s operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2024 totalled RO209.26mn, compared to RO196.39mn for the same period in 2023, an increase of 6.6%.

Net impairment losses on financial assets for 2024 slightly decreased to RO64.41mn, down from RO64.66mn in 2023.

Bank Muscat’s total assets increased by 2.7% to RO14.04bn as of December 31, 2024, compared to RO13.673bn a year earlier. The bank’s net loans and advances, including Islamic financing receivables, grew by 3.7% to RO10.247bn as of December 31, 2024, up from RO9.877bn a year ago.

Customer deposits, including Islamic customer deposits, rose by 3.6% to RO9.777bn as of December 31, 2024, compared to RO9.438bn a year earlier.

Bank Muscat stated that its full annual financial results, along with the complete set of unaudited financial statements, will be released following the approval of the Board of Directors at its meeting scheduled for later this month.

Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on Bank Muscat to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’, with its long-term issuer default rating (IDR) affirmed at ‘BB+’ and its viability rating at ‘bb+’.

The outlook revision follows Fitch’s similar action on Oman’s sovereign rating on December 18 and reflects the agency’s view of Oman’s improving operating environment, which is expected to benefit the bank’s intrinsic credit profile.

‘The positive outlook mirrors that of the sovereign rating and reflects the bank’s dominant position in the domestic market. As the flagship financial institution in Oman, Bank Muscat benefits from access to high-quality borrowers and significant funding from government-linked entities’, Fitch said.

The agency, in its report, highlighted Bank Muscat’s stable asset quality, stronger-than-peer profitability, and solid capital buffers.

© Apex Press and Publishing Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).