Mubadala Reports Largest Total Comprehensive Income in Its History

Mubadala Reports Largest Total Comprehensive Income in Its History
TT

Mubadala Reports Largest Total Comprehensive Income in Its History

Mubadala Reports Largest Total Comprehensive Income in Its History

The Mubadala Investment Company said it achieved in 2020 a total comprehensive income (TCI) attributable to the owner of AED72 billion for the year, compared to AED 53 billion in 2019. It's the largest TCI in Mubadala’s history, driven by significant growth in Mubadala’s public equities portfolio and funds, and its assets across various sectors.

This came as the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor, released its 2020 financial results for the Group on Thursday.

The performance was also attributable to Mubadala’s multi-year strategy to increase investments in sectors with growth ‘tailwinds,’ such as technology, life sciences, and consumer goods, through direct investments and partnerships with leading fund managers, state news agency WAM reported.

Major investments in 2020 reinforced that strategy, including long-term agreements with Silver Lake in technology; in life sciences with PCI Pharma in the US, and in consumer goods and telecommunications with the Reliance Group of India, as well as new commitments and deployments with Apax Partners, Citadel, iSquared Capital and CVC.

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO of Mubadala, said: "Last year, as the world confronted a tragic pandemic, we worked closely with our partners and portfolio companies to offer support to communities hit hard by COVID-19. Across the group, our employees dedicated themselves to helping these communities during this crisis, and that important work will continue."

"We navigated our portfolio through the dramatic macro-economic decline of early 2020, and decided to accelerate the pace of our capital deployment, ending the year with record profit and growth. In line with our long-term strategy, we increased our investments in sectors where we have high conviction, and with high performing fund managers. Technology and life sciences in particular have been essential to the world over the last year, and we see those sectors bringing greater opportunity for deeper investment. We have worked to be well-positioned in these areas and in key geographies as the global economy continues to recover."

Overall, the UAE and the US remain the largest geographic areas for the portfolio. In addition to its new capital deployment in India, Mubadala also invested through its sovereign investment partnerships in France, China and Russia in 2020.

At year-end, assets under management across the Group stood at AED 894 billion, compared to AED 853 billion in 2019.

Group Chief Financial Officer Carlos Obeid, said: "This strong performance was a reflection of our agility as an investor, as well as our globally diversified portfolio of equities, funds, and mature and growing companies. In 2020 we took advantage of the historically low interest rates to lower our cost of borrowing and extend its weighted average life on the back of strong investor demand for our bond issuances. We continue to maintain a prudent gearing ratio standing at 9.1 percent and a strong cash position as we manage through this economic cycle with a long-term view."



US Applications for Jobless Claims Fall to 201,000, Lowest Level in Nearly a Year

A help wanted sign is displayed at a restaurant in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
A help wanted sign is displayed at a restaurant in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
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US Applications for Jobless Claims Fall to 201,000, Lowest Level in Nearly a Year

A help wanted sign is displayed at a restaurant in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
A help wanted sign is displayed at a restaurant in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

US applications for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in nearly a year last week, pointing to a still healthy labor market with historically low layoffs.

The Labor Department on Wednesday said that applications for jobless benefits fell to 201,000 for the week ending January 4, down from the previous week's 211,000. This week's figure is the lowest since February of last year.

The four-week average of claims, which evens out the week-to-week ups and downs, fell by 10,250 to 213,000.

The overall numbers receiving unemployment benefits for the week of December 28 rose to 1.87 million, an increase of 33,000 from the previous week, according to The AP.

The US job market has cooled from the red-hot stretch of 2021-2023 when the economy was rebounding from COVID-19 lockdowns.

Through November, employers added an average of 180,000 jobs a month in 2024, down from 251,000 in 2023, 377,000 in 2022 and a record 604,000 in 2021. Still, even the diminished job creation is solid and a sign of resilience in the face of high interest rates.

When the Labor Department releases hiring numbers for December on Friday, they’re expected to show that employers added 160,000 jobs last month.

On Tuesday, the government reported that US job openings rose unexpectedly in November, showing companies are still looking for workers even as the labor market has loosened. Openings rose to 8.1 million in November, the most since February and up from 7.8 million in October,

The weekly jobless claims numbers are a proxy for layoffs, and those have remained below pre-pandemic levels. The unemployment rate is at a modest 4.2%, though that is up from a half century low 3.4% reached in 2023.

To fight inflation that hit four-decade highs two and a half years ago, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023. Inflation came down — from 9.1% in mid-2022 to 2.7% in November, allowing the Fed to start cutting rates. But progress on inflation has stalled in recent months, and year-over-year consumer price increases are stuck above the Fed’s 2% target.

In December, the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate for the third time in 2024, but the central bank’s policymakers signaled that they’re likely to be more cautious about future rate cuts. They projected just two in 2025, down from the four they had envisioned in September.