APICORP announces strong 2014 financial performance with total income surpassing US$150 million

DUBAI, 19th May, 2015 (WAM) -- The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation, APICORP, an investment company established in 1975 by the 10 member states of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, OAPEC, has yesterday announced its 2014 full year consolidated financial results for the period ending 31st December 2014. APICORP achieved strong revenues over the year, with total income increasing to US$156.28 million compared with US$149.82 million in 2013, and net profit before provisions growing to US$118.51 million from US$111.22 million for the previous year. However, given the uncertain geopolitical outlook for some areas of the MENA region, the company took the prudent step of building up an investment provision of US$13.48 million. This resulted in an adjusted net profit of US$105.03 million for 2014. As of 31st December 2014, total assets had grown to US$5.88 billion, with shareholders’ equity increasing to US$1.86 billion. During the year, APICORP successfully finalised three Sharia-compliant medium-term funding facilities totalling US$1.2 billion, which is aligned with the company’s strategy of improving its terms of funding facilities and better managing its cost of funds. This was reinforced by Moody’s reaffirming the company’s foreign currency issuer rating of Aa3 for long-term debt, and Prime-1 for short-term debt, with a stable outlook, for the third consecutive year. APICORP’s balance sheet remains robust, with significant liquidity of US$983 million and a very healthy capital adequacy ratio of 28.8%. Commenting on the results, APICORP’s Chairman, Dr. Aabed bin Abdulla Al Saddoun, said, "2014 was a solid but challenging year, punctuated by continued uneven global economic growth, ongoing regional geopolitical tensions, and a dramatic decline in oil prices during the fourth quarter. Against this backdrop, we adopted a dynamic but prudent approach, continuing to grow the business while maintaining a conservative risk profile. This enabled us to achieve a strong financial performance overall, while also making sound progress in implementing our new five-year strategy." "Looking ahead, it appears likely that markets will continue to be challenging and varied across the MENA region, but we have identified a number of promising new business opportunities. The latest IMF World Economic Outlook forecast economic growth in the MENA region at 2.7 percent in 2015 and 3.7 percent in 2016. Our own research shows that cumulative MENA energy investment will reach US$755 billion over the next 5 years." "As we enter our 40th year in operation, we will continue to focus on commercialising our offering and capitalising on new growth opportunities in the regional energy sector. We have full confidence in the ability of our highly-professional management team to continue to meet our ambitious strategic objectives and business targets, and we remain cautiously optimistic about the future prospects for APICORP." – Emirates News Agency, WAM – http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395280737413.html