Dubai: Shuaa Capital said on Sunday its net profit for the second quarter to June fell 72 per cent even as revenues rose marginally.

The company said its second quarter net profit rose to Dh1.7 million from Dh6.2 million in the same period last year, while revenues grew Dh59.7 million from Dh52 million.

Net profit for the first half ending June 2015 was Dh0.1 million as opposed to Dh14.4 million for the first half 2014.

“Although general market sentiment has remained subdued due to macroeconomic and geopolitical issues, we are encouraged by a number of positive developments within the business that we believe will set the scene for higher recurrent revenue generation in the second half of the year and beyond,” Abdul Rahman Hareb Rashed Al Hareb, Chairman of Shuaa in a statement.

“These include progress by the Asset Management division’s expected launch of new products; continued growth of Gulf Finance’s loan book, our wholly-owned SME lending business; and expansion of our sales force and product offering in the Capital Markets division,” he added.

Strong balance sheet

Amid all this, Shuaa said it maintains a strong balance sheet and a solid liquidity position with total assets of Dh1.8 billion till June 2015. Total loans and advances increased to Dh1.024 billion. liabilities increased to Dh605.3 million.

The investment banking team reported quarterly net revenues of Dh1.6 million compared to net revenues of Dh6.8 million during the second quarter of 2014.

Following a challenging first quarter, the second quarter saw the Investment Banking division continue to work on a number of public and private mandates, and the deal pipeline of the division remains strong at the onset of the third quarter.

The asset management division posted net revenues of Dh4.9 million compared to Dh5.4 million in the same quarter last year. The result was driven by the performance recorded on Shuaa-managed funds. The division is currently working on a number of new products that are expected to launch in the second half of the year.