The General Assembly of The Securities House shareholders held its annual meeting for 2016 yesterday May 15, 2017, the meeting was chaired by Mr. Ibrahim Yousef Al Ghanim (The Chairman) whereby he had expressed his sense of joy and satisfaction of what has been accomplished over the last year, as during 2016 the company had managed to fully settle the last portion of its debt, as well as to restructure its shareholder’s equity, which had contributed to reinforce and enhance company’s financial position, Mr. Ibrahim Yousef Al Ghanim has also declared that the company’s management are looking at the future through focusing on investing in operating sectors and to maximize asset management revenues ,advisory fees and sustainable revenues based on sound and clear investment policies and in accordance with an appropriate timetable, as this will be achieved through maximizing company’s strategic investments and investing in companies that has an operational business model for the company itself and for its clients, also we will focuses on sectors witnessing continued growth and which get slightly affected by economical turmoil’s, moreover the company will concentrate on investment products and real estate development in addition to investing in real estate and private equity investments that has added value and appropriate returns in comparison with the associated risks.
Accordingly, the company had realized a net profit for the year 2016 amounting to KD 757 K and a corresponding earning per share of 1.5 fils, in comparison with a net profit of KD 1.2 million and a corresponding earning per share of 2.3 fils as of the previous year.
And concerning the associate companies’ performance, the companies Vice Chairman and CEO Mr. Fahed Faisal Boodai has revealed that Gatehouse Financial Group has realized a profit for 2016 with a continued record of realizing profit for the fourth year since 2012, also it continued focusing on its main activities during 2016, on top of which is real estate advisory through its subsidiaries, as Gatehouse Capital continued to offer its real estate advisory services to its clients, whereby the value of those real estate investment has exceeded 1.5 billion dollar, secondly financing activities practiced by Gatehouse Bank in the United Kingdom, through a real estate financing portfolio that is being guaranteed by real estate assets, wealth management, accepting deposits form individuals and treasury operations, moreover the bank has witnessed during the previous years a shift in its strategy from investing in business buildings and offices generating income, by gradually shifting towards development and rental of residential houses that suitable for middle class families in major cities outside the city of London, through a portfolio and funds that is considered one of the largest in the United Kingdom, as it includes more than 1,700 houses as of today and are expected to reach 2,000 houses during the current year and to 3,000 houses by 2018, as the management fees generated by this activity will support the bank’s financial sustainability, and risk exposure, which has resulted in strengthening the bank’s financial position.
Moreover, Mr. Fahed Boodai stated that a new CEO has joined the bank during the current year 2017, that is MR. Charles Haresnape, with an extensive experience and qualifications in residential housing finance sector in the United Kingdom, which will enhance the bank’s direction towards the low risk residential housing finance, and it worth mentioning that the bank intends to finance this type of activity by attracting deposits from the British market, which is a fully electronic and automated system, and has been used by the bank during last year, resulting in an increase in the volume of deposits managed by the bank in a percentage which has exceeded 500% during 2016.
As for Al Aman Investment company, it has realized a profit for 2016, and since that The Securities House company owns 46% of its share capital, and the fact that both companies work in close collaboration, thus The Securities House company’s board of directors has considered the prospects of a merger transaction between The Securities House company and Al Aman Investment company due to a number of reasons and advantages that the shareholders of both companies will benefit from subsequent to the merger transaction, the most important of which is combining various expertise in the field of asset management, international real estate advisory and private equity investment enhancing company’s competitive position by being able to offer a variety of products and services to its clients and providing a sustainable source of income represented by asset management and advisory fees and cross selling of these products, moreover the growth in the consolidated cash position will enable the company from capturing investment opportunities and increased geographical diversity in the investments to include gulf states and United Kingdom through Gatehouse Financial Group, in addition to unification of regulatory requirements and the possible reduction of some operating expenses in a reasonable manner.
Based on that a preliminary merger agreement was reached with the board of directors of Al Aman Investment company for a merger between both companies, as of now both companies are working to prepare a draft merger contract in accordance with Capital Markets Authority (CMA) rules that regulate such transaction, in coordination with investment advisor and asset valuator registered with CMA for the purpose of submitting such contract and to get its approval, and subsequently following all legal and regulatory procedures required and inviting company’s shareholders for an EGM in order to present the merger contract for discussion and approval
