First Bahrain executes strategic restructuring at EGM

First Bahrain Real Estate Development Company today held its Annual General Meeting and Extraordinary General Meeting (AGM/EGM) of the Shareholders for the year ended 31 December 2018, in which the company announced a strategic restructuring of asset values to present a conservative, realistic and healthy balance sheet going forward. The 18.6% reduction in investment properties resulted in a net loss of KWD 5.3 million for the period. Outside of this one time write down in asset values, the Company did produce an operating profit.

Looking forward to a positive future, Waleed Alkhaja, Chairman of First Bahrain, announced, “I am very pleased to confirm that the Company is actively converting its dormant land holdings to income generating assets, and with this adjustment in asset values, the Company is well positioned to move forward. In particular, the Company has begun development of a retail project on its land in Seef which will feature the first Jarir Bookstore in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Jarir is one of the strongest homegrown brands from Saudi Arabia with over 50 stores across the GCC. We have signed a 15-year lease which will position Jarir as the anchor store for our new project, ensuring its long-term success.”

During the EGM meeting, the shareholders elected to reduce the share capital of the Company by 9% to remove all accumulated losses. Accordingly, share capital was reduced from KWD 23,330,960 to
KWD 21,225,191 Mr. Alkhaja expressed his thanks to the shareholders for their support through this difficult period and raised expectation that the Company was moving towards a future where dividends could be paid on a regular and predictable basis.”

Mr. Alkhaja introduced the Company’s new Chief Executive Officer, Omar Al Temiemy, who had been recruited from within, having previously served as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Alkhaja expressed confidence in Mr. Al Temiemy’s leadership and held up high expectations for improved performance. With the CEO’s transition from the Board to executive management, the shareholders elected Abdullah Al Jouan to join the Board of Directors in the open seventh seat.