DUBAI: Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka Banking Group posted a 15 percent increase in first-quarter net income, the bank said yesterday. 

Al Baraka, which has operations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, said first-quarter net income rose to $66m from $57m in the year-ago period, it said in a statement yesterday.

The bank made a total operating income of $233m in the first quarter of 2013, up 16 percent over same period in 2012, it said. Chief Executive Officer Adnan Ahmed Yousif said earlier that the bank plans to expand its global footprint with a focus on Africa under a five-year plan that includes investments in Libya and Morocco.

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi investment firm Waha Capital said yesterday that its first-quarter net profit surged on the back of strong performances at its portfolio companies.

Waha Capital posted a quarterly net profit of Dh85.3m ($23.2m), compared with Dh15.9m for the year-ago quarter. Profits were driven by key portfolio companies, including New York-listed aircraft lessor AerCap Holdings, UAE-based consumer finance company Dunia Finance, and Waha’s advisory business, it said.

BAGHDAD: Oil flows on a pipeline carrying Iraqi crude from the city of Kirkuk to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan has resumed, sources at Iraq’s North Oil Company said, following a militant attack. “Pumping from Kirkuk oilfields resumed after carrying out an intermittent test pumping the previous day,” one source at Iraq’s state-owned Northern Oil Company said. Reuters