The total profits of listed companies in GCC countries stocks relapsed 14.7 percent on annual basis in the second quarter of 2019, reaching USD15.8 billion compared to USD18.5 billion in the same period of 2018.
KAMCO Investment Co. report revealed that Saudi Arabia represented 32.2 percent of the GCC profits in Q2 of the current year.
Qatar and Bahrain stocks declined 8.7 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively, in the second quarter of 2019 annually. Further, the listed companies in the UAE, Kuwait and Muscat stocks witnessed a rise in profits during this period.
On the level of market sectors, three out of five sectors in the market dropped in Q2. This contributed to the decline of total quarterly profits in Gulf stocks during that period.
In another context, the sectors of banks and telecommunication saw a 3.5 percent and 15.5 percent growth, respectively. However, this growth didn’t compensate the general relapse in the GCC countries.
The banking sector contributed with 59.7 percent to total Gulf companies profits in Q2 of 2019 – the profits of the sector rose 3.5 percent annually in 2019, reaching USD9.4 billion compared to USD9.1 billion in Q2 2018.
While the Emirati banks witnessed growth in profits, the Kuwaiti banks saw a marginal growth of 0.8 percent.
The sector of listed banks in Dubai Financial Market inched up 47.3 percent in Q2 profits in 2019, totaling USD2 billion compared to USD1.4 billion in Q2 2018. The listed banks in Abu Dhabi Financial market recorded a growth in net profits of 5.8 percent during the same period.
The telecommunication sector is among the best performing sectors on the level of profits in Q2 2019 in which the annual relapse was restricted to Abu Dhabi and Oman markets. Saudi telecommunication companies achieved a growth of 29.6 percent in profits. In Kuwait, the sector grew 16 percent annually and 8 percent quarterly.
