Completion of the merger with Al-Aman Investment Company

Mr. Ibrahim Yousef Al Ghanim, Chairman of the Board of Directors, stated that  the merger between The Securities House and Al-Aman Investment Company was completed in March 2020 by way of amalgamation in accordance with the provisions of Law No.7 of 2010 regarding the establishment of The Capital Markets Authority and the regulation of securities activities and its executive bylaws and amendments, and the Companies Law No. 1 of 2016 and its executive regulations and its amendments, where The Securities House became the merging company and Al-Aman Investment Company is the merged company.

The Corona pandemic crisis and its impact,

Mr. Fahed Faisal  Boodai, CEO of the company, stated that due to the negative impact of the crisis of the COVID-19  pandemic that swept the world and the region, including the State of Kuwait,  revenues were affected by the Corona pandemic crisis due to the health ban and the suspension of activities during the year, which forced the company to deal with this exceptional situation and to book impairment provisions for affiliate companies, which resulted in achieving a net loss of KD 7.8 million for the year 2020, equivalent to 14.7 fils per share. In this context, the company’s management did not stand still. Rather, it took the initiative to mitigate the impact of the loss on shareholders, as it reduced staff costs by 27%, as well as general and administrative expenses by 40% during 2020.

The most important events and activities of 2020,

Mr. Boodai also explained that in order to enhance the company’s main orientation in the asset management activity, the company has successfully continued the activity of managing public equities listed in local and Gulf markets on behalf of its clients, and realized management fees amounting to KD 1.5 million, which highlights the company’s efficiency in this activity despite sharp volatility in the stock markets witnessed during the year.

The Group also continued to successfully expand its marketing and management of real estate investments on behalf of its clients, which is represented in the marketing of short to medium-term real estate development opportunities in the light industry sector in the United States through a strategic partnership with one of the largest developers specialized in this field., where in March 2020 the company completed the sale of its first real estate projects achieving a profit of about KD 400 K, representing a 40% total return during an investment period of only two and a half years, in addition to realizing incentive fees. In May 2020, it also completed the marketing of its second and third real estate projects licensed by the Capital Markets Authority, which is expected to achieve remarkable returns for investors proportionate with level of risk, as well as good fees for the company.

As for investment in educational activities, the associate company, Dar Al Salam for Educational Services, has resumed its activities through e-learning and completing the implementation of its strategic plan where  In April  2020, a new school was launched in the Indian  system, becoming the first school under in cooperation with the prestigious Delhi World Organization outside India,  bringing  the number of schools  under  its umbrella to three and working on adding a fourth bilingual school  in  2021. 

Looking to the future and repositioning the company,

Mr. Yousef Ibrahim Al-Ghanim, Executive Vice President of the company, stated that the outlook for the future, especially after the merger, is based on three main angles. The first is to seek to enhance the company’s position as a distinguished investment and advisory entity that depends primarily on the exploitation of its accumulated skills and experience in developing revenues, especially management and advisory fees on client assets under management in three main sectors: public equities (in local and GCC markets), private equity (in local and Gulf operating sectors), and international real estate investment (in the United States of America).

The second angle is the continued focus on developing the strategic investments of the company, such as Gatehouse Financial Group and its subsidiaries, Gatehouse Bank as an arm specialized in financing residential real estate in the United Kingdom, which strengthened its position as a challenger bank in the British market.  The bank returned to achieving profits, as it achieved a profit of GBP 2.1 million and achieved a distinct growth in the net real estate finance income of 57%, as well as in the size of the financing portfolio, which amounted to GBP 672 million as at 31/12/2020, with a growth of 27% over the previous year.

As for the third angle, it is related to strengthening the financial position of the company in a way that achieves the interests of shareholders and paves the way for the launch towards the future on solid and stable grounds, God willing, where the General Assembly of shareholders approved the restructuring of equity and the reduction of the company’s capital from KD 55,500,000 to KD 45,000,000 in exchange for extinguishing the balance of accumulated losses in  full, Which will contribute to enhancing the book value of the company's new share after the reduction and pave the way for the future and building a balance of retained earnings that can be distributed in the future.

Electing a board of directors of the company,

In line with the company's future outlook and given the end of the current term of the Company's Board of Directors, the following gentlemen were elected to the Board of Directors at its new term:

• Ibrahim Yousef Al-Ghanim (representative of Alam Al-Masila General Trading Company)
• Altaf Abdullah Al Ghanim (representative of Awlaad Abdullah Yusef Ahmad Al Ghanim General Trading Company)
• Abdullateif Mohammed Alshaya
• Aysha Faisal AlMudhaf
• Mosaed Adnan Al-Ajeel

The following gentlemen were also elected as reserve members:

• Fahed Faisal Boodai
• Abdul Rahman Nawaf Al-Othman (representative of Sejam Ventures For General Trading)

Return to profitability as of 202

Thankfully, the company had achieved a net profit of KD 3.0 million for the first quarter of 2021 due to increase in management and consulting fee revenues, which led to an increase in the value of shareholders' equity to KD 45.1 million as of March 31, 2021 with a book value of 81 fils per share compared to 76 fils per share as of December 31, 2020.  The company hopes to continue to enhance its profits resulting from asset management activities in accordance with the company's new approach, God willing.