Kuwait Finance House (KFH) will make a decision by the end of 2Q18 on the future of its stake in Aref Investment Group, the group CEO Mazin Saad Al-Nahedh said on Monday. The bank was considering selling its stake in the company, Al-Nahedh said at the bank’s AGM. Aref is a diversified investment company that is 53% owned by KFH and has capital of KWD22.9mn, according to the bank’s website. KFH reclassified Aref from a subsidiary to an investment available-for-sale in 2016,  as part of KFH’s ongoing focus on divesting non-core assets. It is possible that Aref may not be sold in full but that KFH looks at selling some of Aref’s underlying assets. On a different note, Al-Nadeh said that he expects KFH’s net profit to grow by double-digits this year. 
 
Kuwait Finance House: KWD0.59 as of 19 Mar. 2018, Rating: Buy, TP: KWD0.68/share, MCap: USD11,340mn, KFIN KK/KFIN.KW
Elena Sanchez-Cabezudo