Latest news with #businessexpansion
Zawya
a day ago
- Business
- Zawya
Al Baraka Group continues outstanding performance in Q1 2025
Manama: Al Baraka Group B.S.C. (c) ('the Group') continued to achieve strong financial results, recording significant growth in profitability and operational metrics during the first quarter of 2025. The net income attributable to the parent company's shareholders rose by 19% to reach USD 46 million, compared to USD 39 million in Q1 2024. Basic earnings per share stood at 3.84 US cents in Q1 2025, up from 3.23 US cents in the same quarter of 2024. This substantial improvement is attributed mainly to the growth in financing volumes and business expansion in key markets such as Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt, which positively impacted the Group's operating income. The Group also announced a notable increase in total comprehensive income attributable to Al Baraka shareholders, registering profits of USD 34 million by the end of Q1 2025, compared to a loss of USD 60 million during the same period last year. This improvement was primarily due to a reduction in the foreign currency translation reserve. Additionally, the Group recorded a significant 19% upsurge in total net income, which reached USD 91 million in Q1 2025, up from USD 77 million in the same period of 2024. This was mainly driven by increased profits from financing and investments in the Group's key banking subsidiaries ('Units'), along with a reduction in provisions despite the continued rise in funding costs. The transfer of 2024's net income to retained earnings, combined with the recorded net income for Q1 2025, led to a 2% rise in total equity attributable to the parent company's shareholders and sukuk holders, reaching USD 1.28 billion by the end of March 2025, compared to USD 1.24 billion as of the end of December 2024. Total equity reached USD 2.03 billion at the end of March 2025, up from USD 2.00 billion in December 2024, marking a 1% increase for the same reasons. Driven by business growth and an expanding customer base, the Group saw an increase in both financing and deposits, particularly in its main markets. As a result, total assets grew to USD 27.24 billion by the end of March 2025, compared to USD 26.19 billion at the end of 2024, reflecting a 4% growth. Commenting on these results, Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Kamel, Chairman of the Board, said: 'In the first quarter of 2025 Al Baraka Group successfully built upon the strong financial performance achieved last year. The Group continued to strengthen its presence and expand its market share in the key countries where it operates, remaining vigilant against adverse global economic and financial conditions while steadily advancing business growth, financing, and deposits. This has significantly boosted income and net profits. We shall continue leveraging our strong financial resources and broad network to enhance our business and customer base and maximize investment returns, while remaining committed to serving the communities where we operate.' Mr. Houssem Ben Haj Amor, Board Member and Group CEO, added: 'Despite the volatile investment climate and uncertainty stemming from regional and global geopolitical and economic developments, the Group and its Units have acquired deep experience in adapting to such conditions. Meanwhile, the Group continues to focus on its core objectives of strengthening financial resilience and increasing returns from financing and investment portfolios through building market confidence in our products and services, and leveraging our banking competencies that continuously work on innovative solutions, which boost our competitiveness. Such innovations include the 'Trade Finance Platform' and the 'Borderless Banking' initiatives, which we launched last year. We also continue to maintain comprehensive oversight of risks, compliance, and governance controls.' About Al Baraka Group: Al Baraka Group B.S.C. (C) is licensed as an Investment Business Firm – Category 1 (Islamic Principles) by the Central Bank of Bahrain. It is a leading international Islamic financial group providing financial services through its banking subsidiaries in 13 countries offering retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, strictly in accordance with the principles of Islamic Shari'a. The Group has a wide geographical presence with operations in Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Sudan, Turkey, South Africa, Algeria, Pakistan, Lebanon and Syria, in addition to two branches in Iraq and a representative office in Libya and provides its services in more than 600 branches. ABG's network serves a population totaling around one billion customers. The authorized capital of ABG is US$ 2.5 billion.
Khaleej Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Performance-driven marketing firm Wisoft Solutions launches Indian operations
Wisoft Solutions, a UAE-based digital marketing agency with over a decade of operations in the Gulf region, has announced the expansion of its operations to Bengaluru, India. The move is part of the company's broader vision to create a seamless marketing bridge between businesses operating across the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Founded in Dubai in 2010, Wisoft solutions has grown into a performance-focused agency with clients across real estate, education and healthcare sectors. The company has also established a presence in Saudi Arabia and the United States. With India emerging as a key digital economy, the new Bengaluru hub is expected to enhance its ability to support brands navigating expansion between the GCC and India. 'India is not just a strategic geography for digital consumption — it's increasingly becoming a destination for business expansion and brand building,' said Saji S Nair, CEO and founder of Wisoft Solutions. 'We've worked with many Gulf-based brands seeking traction in Indian markets and vice versa. Bengaluru allows us to be on the ground, closer to evolving consumer behaviours, talent, and innovation.' Wisoft's move comes at a time when businesses in both regions are investing more heavily in marketing technologies and automation. The company's offerings, which include performance marketing, SEO, digital branding, social engagement strategies, and marketing automation, are positioned to serve organisations looking to optimise visibility and customer acquisition in a cross-border context. The choice of Bengaluru, India's technology and innovation capital, aligns with the city's growing importance as a hub for startups, multinational firms, and data-driven service industries. Wisoft solutions aims to collaborate with Indian enterprises expanding into GCC markets, particularly in sectors such as education, healthcare, fintech and real estate. Sangeetha Saji, managing director, noted that the expansion also builds on the existing expertise the company has cultivated across regional markets. 'We understand the nuances of both the GCC and Indian audiences. This dual-market fluency helps us offer targeted strategies that reflect cultural, linguistic and platform-specific preferences.' The expansion signals an increasing integration between digital economies in the Middle East and India, a trend accelerated by e-commerce growth, cross-border investment and diaspora-driven demand. Wisoft's Bengaluru office is expected to focus on strategy consulting, campaign execution and digital infrastructure services for clients operating across these economic corridors. As digital-first strategies become a prerequisite for business scalability, Wisoft solutions's expanded footprint aims to meet the rising need for high-performance, localised marketing execution with global scalability.
Arabian Business
22-05-2025
- Business
- Arabian Business
Dubai Chamber of Commerce to visit Philippines and Thailand on trade mission
The mission comes as part of the 'New Horizons' initiative, which aims to support the expansion of local companies into promising global markets. The chamber hosted a virtual briefing session for members of the trade mission, which includes representatives from a diverse range of Dubai-based companies operating in sectors such as: Food and beverages Human resources Automotive trade Hospitality Industrial oils Agriculture Electronics Investment Dubai Chamber of Commerce to visit Philippines and Thailand Participants were briefed on the mission's programme, which features meetings and bilateral business matchmaking sessions between companies from Dubai and their counterparts in the Philippines and Thailand to explore opportunities for collaboration, align interests, and identify potential areas for growth. Attendees also gained valuable insights into the economic landscape and market dynamics of both countries. The 'New Horizons' initiative is a key pillar of the chamber's efforts to promote the global expansion of Dubai-based companies and enable them to capitalise on rewarding opportunities in new international markets. The initiative aligns with the goals of the 'Dubai Global' initiative, which seeks to help local companies explore new business prospects across 30 priority markets worldwide.
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Learning From Global Family Business Splits
Radu Magdin is CEO of Smartlink Communications. Global analyst, consultant, passionate about leadership, communications and competition. getty Large businesses often aim to expand, seeking either the benefits of scale in sales, production, purchasing power or development or the efficiencies that come with vertical or horizontal integration. BYD, which remains, in many respects, a battery manufacturer with an automobile division, found success through vertical integration. Alphabet's sprawling conglomerate, which remains mostly about putting ads in front of people as far as revenue is concerned, nevertheless benefits from the streams of data coming from sources like Gmail. Amazon's operating income in the fourth quarter of 2024 from Amazon Web Services is higher than its operating income from North American sales. Then, there are businesses that choose to split. Some successful family businesses make a conscious choice to separate into multiple entities controlled by different family members or multiple entities under a diversified conglomerate of ownership structures. These are an otherwise overlooked and often quite idiosyncratic category of businesses in themselves, and I've had the opportunity to speak with some of their leaders in my capacity as a risk consultant. These are my thoughts on what I've learned. Most of the companies I've spoken to in these situations are from Germany, Japan and South Korea. Many developed in a fairly particular set of circumstances, namely that of a previously agricultural, communitarian country that aimed to copy the Anglo-American model of industrialization despite not having what may be called functional equity markets. The Anglo-American model of shareholder capitalism focuses on public equities as the primary mechanism for raising capital in terms of large companies. In this system, companies rely heavily on public equity financing—issuing shares to a broad base of often public investors. In contrast, Germany, South Korea and Japan developed debt-focused models, sometimes referred to as bank-led capitalism. In these systems, long-term relationships with banks are central to a firm's financial stability and growth. Rather than issuing equity widely, companies primarily fund operations and expansion through bank loans. These banks often hold equity stakes in the companies they lend to—as is the case with hausbanks in Germany and their counterparts in Japan—and often participate directly in governance by having board seats. This environment meant that the older model of the family-owned, debt-financed business was on a more or less even keel with the equity-financed corporations that came to dominate mid-century America and, as their respective economies grew, diversified and developed, so did they. The downsides to the businesses themselves, as well as their domestic economies, can be self-evident. From an economic standpoint, what might once have looked like smart, patient investing based on long-term relationships can turn into a problem like unfair insider dealing and poor money management. For example, in 1990s Japan, banks were writing off 7.5 trillion yen of bad loans per year, just as 7.9 trillion yen were being added to balance sheets simultaneously. From a management perspective, managing a large company as a single entity may be the stuff of 1980s action movies but can be bleakly complex in practice. It may also be inefficient: Often, individual divisions allow for a mutually beneficial specialization that recreates the German ecosystem at smaller scales in the form of chaebols and zaibatsus, which are discrete but acting in unison. Furthermore, since actual ownership often remains within the same family, the financing advantage of conglomerates in the context of declining credit availability or market downturns may be maintained. I think the most famous example is the split between the Albrecht brothers of the Aldi retail chain into Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. The split itself is, ultimately, a personal family matter, but it suffices to say that each manages its own supply chains under the same brand and does that quite successfully. Likewise, in the same sector, Kaufland and Lidl, two supermarket chains, are owned by the same family under the tutelage of the Schwarz Group, each specializing in specific market segments. All of the above have made their respective splits into commercial successes, representing a natural experiment in optimization. Others have split due to the sheer difficulty of managing as a single company. Samsung, a family conglomerate that together amounts to about 20% of South Korean GDP, has split into many distinct subsidiaries while maintaining family ownership of heterogeneously managed entities. In the case of Reliance Industries, the ownership structure extends to over 300 companies of various sizes and over a multitude of industries and countries, to an extent representing a whole world unto itself while remaining very much a family business—a feat of financial and legal ingenuity over and above the businesses themselves. It is rare for a single family to control a large, global business, but a few economic and social environments have given rise to a very particular breed of family businesses that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the largest public companies of the Anglo-American world. By splitting into conglomerates, these companies often maintain the defensive financing advantages of relying on internal capital while allowing for corporate speciation of their divisions. The corporate structures thus created can often come across as overly complex, but these are also multi-generational companies that have often been the spearhead of their respective economies on the global stage and, in many respects, represent their domestic economies' success, making them worth studying. At a minimum, I think it showcases the power of ownership structures, particularly the usage of overlapping general partnerships to maintain controlling interests without the need for majority ownership, which in turn allows both for the splits as well as maintaining control of what is often a family legacy. Furthermore, it brings to focus the importance of internal capital in the financing of companies, both as a way of maintaining control as well as harnessing lower costs of capital during adverse market conditions—two lessons to inform any business leader. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Malay Mail
21-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Deutsche Rück Group maintains profit-oriented growth course
Frank Schaar, CEO Deutsche Rück Group DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY - Newsaktuell - 21 May 2025 - The Deutsche Rück Group further expanded its business in the 2024 financial year while simultaneously strengthening its financial position. Gross premiums written grew in all business areas, rising significantly by 18.3% to around €2.1 billion. Net premiums earned increased by 17.5% to €1.4 billion. Growth came from both international markets and the German domestic market. Total security resources rose by €375.8 million to more than €3.1 highest premium increases came from the liability, accident and motor insurance business and the other lines of insurance. In the liability, accident and motor insurance lines, the second-largest segment of Deutsche Rück's portfolio, gross premiums rose by 23.9% to €485.8 million. Gross premium income in property insurance, which accounts for more than two-thirds of Deutsche Rück Group's gross premiums, also grew strongly by 16.5% to €1.4 life business, the Deutsche Rück Group recorded a 9.7% increase in gross premiums to €84.2 million. In the 2024 financial year, the Deutsche Rück Group expanded its life and health reinsurance business to the markets of the Middle East and North Africa."We grew strongly and profitably in all business areas in 2024," says Frank Schaar, Chief Executive Officer of the Deutsche Rück Group. "Our strategy of gradually and purposefully internationalising our business over the recent years is paying off."The Group generated investment income of €74.8 million and achieved a net profit after taxes of €14.5 million (previous year: €12.0 million).Deutsche Rückversicherung AG and its subsidiary Deutsche Rückversicherung Switzerland Ltd offer reinsurance cover on the European insurance market and selected international markets. Thanks to outstanding long-term credit ratings and consistent market performance, the Group companies are much sought-after and well-established in Germany as one of the leading #DeutscheRück The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
