THE Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), a multilateral development financial institution, held its 43rd General Assembly for 2019 in Muscat, Oman. The meetings were attended by the shareholders of Apicorp representing its member states, the ten Arab oil exporting countries. The net profit for the corporation in 2018 increased to $182.3 million, a 76 percent year-over-year increase and is the highest in Apicorp's history. This was driven by returns from a capital gain of $86.7 million on the sale of Apicorp's equity stake in National Petroleum Services (NPS) as well as remarkable growth achievements of net interest income and dividend income at 67 percent and 51 percent, respectively. Indeed, all these factors resulted in total income at $252.7 million, increasing by 78 percent vis-à-vis the 2017 figures. Commenting on the key financial highlights for the year, Dr. Aabed bin Abdulla Al-Saadoun, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: "This year was the strongest financial performance achieved by Apicorp with significant net profit increase to $182.3m and 11percent asset growth. APICORP registered robust financial results across the business and increased profitability and sustainable earnings in line with its vision, while cementing its position as the leading multilateral development financial institution supporting the Arab world's broader energy and sustainability industries." Dr. Ahmed Ali Attiga, Chief Executive Officer of Apicorp, said: "The annual results are testament to the resilient efforts of our entire team, and a strong indicator of our overall business strategy and robust risk and corporate governance framework. Notably, Apicorp's 2018 total income increased by 78 percent to $252.7 million as compared with last year." The assets grew by 11 percent to $6.95 billion as of 31 December 2018. This was mainly due to an expanding corporate finance portfolio that reached $3.49 billion (around 50 percent of the balance sheet) and is well-diversified in the broader energy sectors. Notably, the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio has shown remarkable improvements from 2.05 percent in 2017 to 0.34 percent in 2018. On the funding front in 2018, Apicorp successfully completed five (5) medium-term funding transactions for a total amount of $1.3 billion from the international markets and widened its investor base, with strong interest from the US, Europe, Asia and China. In September 2018, Moody's announced an upgrade to the rating outlook of Apicorp's debt from Aa3 stable to Aa3 positive. This development comes in the wake of consistent improvement in Apicorp's funding profile and corresponding improvements in its liquidity position.
