Dubai: Emirates Islamic Bank reported a Dh320 million net profit excluding the depositors' share in the first half of 2008, up 321 per cent compared to Dh76 million for the same period last year.

Total income during the period under review grew to Dh780 million from Dh401 million in the same period last year, reflecting a growth of 95 per cent. The depositors' share of profit reached Dh266 million.

EIB's total assets increased by 100 per cent to Dh26 billion compared to the end of June 2007.

The bank's customer accounts grew 95 per cent to Dh22.3 billion, with an increase of Dh10.9 billion compared to the same period last year.

Shareholder equity reached Dh1.5 billion at the end of the period, recording an increase of 25 per cent compared to end of June 2007. Meanwhile, return on capital has reached 68.5 per cent per annum.

Ebrahim Fayez Al Shamsi, CEO, Emirates Islamic Bank, said: "These results demonstrate our progress. Although the bank was only founded towards the end of 2004, we have become one of the UAE's fastest-growing and most highly-developed banks. We maintained our position as one of the highest profit distributors on customer deposits in the UAE as well."