Loss-making Gulf Finance House of Bahrain to scale back capital 13%

GFH seeks to reduce capital in the wake of rising losses.

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Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House plans a 13.8 per cent reduction in capital as it struggles with accumulated losses.

The investment firm announced on Monday that it plans toreduce its issued and paid-up capital to US$837.9 million from $972.3m.

The move, which will not involve any cash transfer and will leave the total number of outstanding shares unchanged, will reduce the firm’s accumulated losses by $134.4m, GFH says.

GFH expects the required procedures to be completed by the end of June, subject to approval from the Central Bank in Bahrain.

The announcement comes the week after GFH announced a 29 per cent fall in profits for the first quarter of the year to $1.1m.

The company’s accumulated losses increased to $515.6m at the end of March, compared with $331.8m a year earlier.

Kuwait’s Capital Market Authority last month placed GFH under monitoring for a period of six months, following a failure to account for unusual trading activity on its shares last year.

The firm is contesting the CMA’s decision.

GFH this month announced a leaseback acquisition of an unnamed American curriculum school in Dubai for $34m.

GFH’s shares, listed on the Dubai Financial Market, are down 16.5 per cent so far this year. The stock closed 4 per cent lower.

jeverington@thenational.ae

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