Banque Saudi Fransi has established a $2 billion Islamic bond (sukuk) program, a regulatory filing on the London Stock Exchange showed. Citigroup, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and Saudi Fransi Capital are arrangers and dealers on the program, the April 17 prospectus showed. Islamic bond sales in Saudi Arabia rose to a record $6.55 billion so far this year as the government's spending plan encourages companies to raise funds to invest. The state-run General Authority of Civil Aviation sold SR15 billion ($4 billion) of Islamic bonds in January. Saudi Electricity last month raised a combined $1.75 billion from an issue of five- and 10-year sukuk, securities that pay returns on assets to comply Islam's ban on interest. The stock has advanced 15 percent this year compared with a 17 percent gain for the benchmark Tadawul All Share Index and 20 percent increase for the Tadawul All Share Bank Index. Net income for Q1 2012 amounted to SR789 million, an increase of 10 percent compared to SR million for Q1 2011 and an increase of 19.4 percent compared to SR661 million for Q4 2011. Total operating income for Q1 2012 amounted to SR1,220 million compared to SR1,150 million for the same quarter last year with an increase of 6.1 percent. Net special commission income for Q1 2012 amounted to SR802 million compared to SR757 million for the same quarter last year with an increase of 5.9 percent. Earnings per share for the first quarter of 2012 amounted to SR0.87 against SR0.79 for the corresponding period of the previous year. Total assets increased by 18.1 percent to SR150 billion as of March 31, 2012 compared to SR127 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2011. Investments amounted to SR20 billion in first quarter.
