Dubai Financial Market (DFM) announced on Wednesday the listing of Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain's shares. With this listing, the number of companies listed on DFM reaches 57 public joint stock companies. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of the board of directors of Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain, opened trading on Wednesday of the bank's shares in a ceremony attended by Essa Kazim, chairman of the board of directors of DFM. DFM is the first market in which Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain has listed its shares outside Bahrain. The listing is part of its plan for future expansion and development. The shares will be traded under the symbol “SALAM-BH.” The listing follows the bank's completion of all the necessary listing requirements of the Emirates Securities and Exchange Authority (ESCA) as well as those of DFM. On the occasion of the listing, Alabbar said: “The listing of the bank's shares on DFM is a significant step in the bank's expansion strategy, a strategy that will diversify the bank's activities and enhance its services to its shareholders and investors. The bank's administration is working rapidly to strengthen and nurture its investments in order to achieve the best results possible and the highest returns for our shareholders and clients.” He added: “The listing of Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain on DFM is a great leap forward for the bank's operations and is the result of the successful implementation of the bank's goals, and the creation of a healthy environment for shareholders to trade their shares. The increasing trust of the investors in the bank is the result of the bank's success since its inception in creating high yields for its investors. The incredible economic growth of the UAE pushed the bank's management to choose DFM as a starting point to trade Al Salam Bank-Bahrain's shares outside the Kingdom of Bahrain. This listing is also an important step towards bringing the UAE and the Kingdom of Bahrain's financial markets closer together.” Mohamed Ali Alabbar offered his thanks to the ESCA, DFM, the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Bahrain Stock Exchange for their constructive cooperation that resulted in the successful completion of the DFM listing process in a relatively short period: “The rapid completion of this new listing reflects the effective coordination between the relevant governing bodies and the high level of professionalism being demonstrated for new developments in the market between the banking industry and financial markets. It is also proof of the results when extensive experience, efficient systems and highly skilled individuals come together as one.” Kazim said: “Salam Bank-Bahrain is the first listing on DFM in 2008. We firmly believe that with every listing, the market adds more depth and diversification while offering a balanced portfolio to investors.” He added: “The listing of Salam Bank-Bahrain reaffirms DFM's pole position and our potential to grow further. We offer truly unique investments opportunities for a vast spectrum of investor segments. DFM's strategy is based on offering diversified investment options to investors, and today's listing is in line with this strategy.” Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain recently announced its financial results for the year ending Dec. 31, 2007, which resulted in a net profit of BD23.1 million ($61.6 million), an increase of 41 percent more than the net profit of BD16.4 million ($43.5 million) for the period ended December 31, 2006. __
