The General Assembly of the Kuwait Finance and Investment Company (KFIC) approved the Board of Directors’ recommendation not to distribute profits for the year 2020 to serve the company’s expansion objectives. The General Assembly, which was held yesterday with an attendance rate of 84.5%, approved the transfer of 75 thousand dinars from profits to the legal reserve account. It also approved the election and appointment of members. The Board of Directors for the next session “2021, 2022, 2023” are Reham Fouad Al-Ghanim, representative of Fouad Al-Ghanim and Sons General Trading and Contracting Company, Tareq Mishari Al-Bahr, representative of Abdullah Al-Hamad Al-Saqr & Brothers Company, Suleiman Khaled Al-Fulaij, representative of the National Bank of Kuwait, and Muhammad Musa Al-Saif, representative of First Abu Dhabi Bank, Hamad Falah Al-Hajri, representative of Falah Hamad Muhammad Al-Hajri, Abdullah Khaled Al-Tarkait - independent, Ahmed Hamad Al-Humaidhi, and Nouriya Imad Al-Saqr. Reham Al-Ghanim was appointed to the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors and Tariq Al-Bahar to the position of Vice Chairman and CEO. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of KFIC, Reham Fouad Al-Ghanem, said: It is no secret to all of us that the severe economic and social damage caused by the new Corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic has cast a shadow on everyone. The pandemic led to a slowdown in the growth of the global and local economy, which prompted central banks around the world to take proactive steps that resulted in setting aside precautionary allocations to avoid any financial and economic consequences related to the pandemic. She added: The Kuwaiti economy was negatively affected during 2020, as it was subjected to the largest contraction since 2009 as a result of the repercussions of the Corona virus pandemic, in addition to the decrease in oil revenues resulting from the decline in oil prices and the State of Kuwait’s participation in OPEC production cuts. Despite the unfavorable economic conditions that the State of Kuwait, and indeed the whole world, is going through and the challenges associated with it as a result of the spread of the new Corona Virus (Covid 19) pandemic, KFIC and its executive management were able to overcome these conditions and challenges with the least possible losses. She added that these positive results reflect the strength of two main elements: the balanced operating model and the solid strategy. 2020 results Al-Ghanim reported that “KFIC” achieved profits before credit allocations, board members’ remuneration and taxes amounting to approximately two million dinars for 2020, compared to 861 thousand dinars in 2019, an increase of 1.1 million dinars and a rate of 133%. “KFIC” also achieved a growth in its revenues by 25%, The group’s revenues amounted to approximately 7.5 million dinars, compared to 6 million dinars in 2019, which reflects the success of “KFIC” in implementing its business model. The parent company also recorded a net profit of 447 thousand dinars, with a profitability of 1.4 fils for 2020, compared to a net profit of approximately 688 thousand dinars. With earnings of 2.2 fils per share for 2019. Finance sector Al-Ghanem stated, “The value of the financing portfolio amounted to 13.7 million dinars as of December 31, 2020, an increase of 0.5 million dinars, or 3%, over the value of the financing portfolio as of December 31, 2019, which amounted to 13.2 million dinars.” Despite the spread of the Corona virus pandemic and its accompanying negative effects on all sectors of the Kuwaiti economy, especially the finance sector, the finance sector was able to maintain a stable level of revenues, as the finance sector’s revenues reached 1.9 million dinars during the years 2019 and 2020. The sector also achieved good levels of profitability in 2020, as the sector’s net profit before credit allocations amounted to approximately 442 thousand dinars, compared to a net profit of 95 thousand dinars for 2019.” The value of the credit facilities portfolio managed by the company on behalf of some local banks amounted to 17.8 million dinars in 2020, compared to 15.6 million dinars in 2019, an increase of 14%. Corporate finance For his part, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the company, Tariq Mishari Al-Bahar, said that during 2020, the investment sector of the parent company succeeded in arranging an exit deal from some of the group’s assets through one of the group’s subsidiary companies, “KFIC Financial Brokerage Company (K.S.C.). » Which resulted in the group recording a net profit from the sale amounting to approximately 3.1 million dinars. It was also made clear that KFIC has been able over the past years to exit from its non-revenue investments, and will continue to implement plans to exit some of its direct investments during the coming years. This sector adopts a business model that relies on generating revenues continuously through fees and advisory services fees and returns from generating investments distributed in multiple geographical regions such as Kuwait, the Gulf states, and North America. electronic services Al-Bahr stated that the financial brokerage and electronic services sector witnessed an increase in revenues during the year 2020 compared to the year 2019 due to the increase in the value of trading in the Kuwait Stock Exchange from 7.9 billion dinars during 2019 to 10.8 billion dinars during the year 2020, with an increase rate of 35%, and the return is mainly To upgrade the Kuwait Stock Exchange to the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index during November 2020, which had a positive impact on the business results of this sector, as the revenues of brokerage and electronic trading services for this sector amounted to approximately 832 thousand dinars in 2019 compared to approximately 1,575 thousand dinars for the year 2020 and an increase. %89. Strong financial position Al-Bahr explained that KFIC enjoys a strong financial position that qualifies it for a growth phase in its business, as total assets amounted to approximately 57 million dinars, as of December 31, 2020, a 1% decrease from the total assets, which amounted to 57.6 million dinars as of December 31, 2019. The total also reached Liabilities amounted to 15.1 million dinars as of December 31, 2020, a decrease of 12% from the total liabilities that amounted to 17.2 million dinars as of December 31, 2019. This is mainly due to KFIC’s payment of approximately 3.9 million dinars to the creditor banks during the year 2020 in accordance with the loan agreement, in addition to To obtain new credit facilities in the amount of 1.5 million dinars.