AFS net profit climbs 275pc

Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain – 22 March 2010

Arab Financial Services (AFS) Company's net profit jumped 275 per cent to $4.3 million last year.

The company, provider of electronic-payments and consumer finance-outsourcing services, achieved a gross revenue of $17.4m, up 16pc year-on-year, noting that its core card processing business also grew by 16pc to $15.8m.

AFS declared a dividend of 47 cents per share.

Chairman Hassan Juma said that last year's excellent results were brought about by a focus on the core business.

"Last year, we continued to concentrate on our aspiration of becoming the provider of choice for payment card processing in the region as we have done since 1984, and as we will do for the next 25 years," he said.

"This on-going focus has enabled us to deliver excellent results and to make significant progress towards our strategic objectives," he said.

"AFS has successfully delivered against last year's growth strategy to achieve results, with profit and revenue rising significantly," added chief executive officer Shankar Sharma.

"This represents a positive endorsement of our strong focus on remaining close to our customers' needs and continued risk-averse investment policy."