UAE firms best Q3 performers in GCC

Profits of listed companies across the GCC witnessed a quarter-on-quarter decline of 8.0 per cent while those in the UAE recorded higher profits during the third quarter 2022.

Abu Dhabi-listed companies showed the biggest y-o-y profitability improvement during Q3 with net profits almost doubling to $9.1 billion as compared to $ 4.7 billion Q3-2021, reflecting both new listings as well as higher profits for the bulk of the listed companies on the Abu Dhabi exchange. Saudi and Dubai-listed companies showed y-o-y profit growth of around 30 per cent, whereas aggregates for Kuwaiti and Bahraini companies showed double-digit declines.

Net profits for Dubai-listed companies surged by 32.8 per cent year-on-year to $4.1 billion in third quarter 2022 from $3.1 billion in the same 2021 period while listed companies in Abu Dhabi recorded a 94.8 per cent jump to $ 9.1 billion compared with $ 4.7 billion a year ago.

Earnings growth of Dubai companies during the quarter were mainly driven by banks, utilities and real estate companies with the three sectors accounting for 85.3 per cent of the aggregate earnings in the exchange during the quarter, Kamco Invest said in its GCC Corporate Earnings Report.

“It is noteworthy that out of the 12 sectors in Dubai, seven have witnessed a y-o-y increase in profits during Q3-2022 while the remaining five sectors including the insurance and consumer services sectors reported declines,” said Junaid Ansari, Kamco’s head of Investment Strategy & Research.

Total net profits of Dubai’s banking sector rose by $513.9 million in Q3-2022 to reach $2.0 billion up from $1.5 billion in Q3-2021. Aggregate profits for Dubai’s real estate Sector rose by 19.9 per cent y-o-y in Q3-2022 to reach $649.8 million up from $542 million in Q3-2021.

In line with most of the GCC markets, the banking sector in Abu Dhabi witnessed an increase in net profits, albeit marginally, with aggregate sector profit of $1.7 billion as compared to $1.6 billion during Q3-2021, registering a y-o-y rise of $58.8 million or 3.6 per cent.

After reaching a record during Q2-2022, quarterly profits for listed companies across the GCC witnessed a q-o-q decline of 8.0 per cent or $6.1 billion during Q3-2022 mainly led by a fall in earnings for energy and materials companies. The declines were also reflected in the respective sectoral indices with the Bloomberg Global Basic Materials Index declining by 10.5 per cent during Q3-2022 while crude oil prices dropped by 23.4 per cent during the quarter.

“However, higher profits mainly for the food, beverage & tobacco, capital goods and utilities sectors partially offset the overall decline. Banks also reported marginally higher q-o-q profits that reached $11.3 billion during Q3-2022 as compared to $10.9 billion during the previous quarter.

In terms of regions, only UAE-listed companies showed higher profits during the quarter, whereas aggregates for the rest of the GCC countries showed a q-o-q decline during Q3-2022. In terms of y-o-y performance, net profits continued to show growth in Q3-2022 and were up by almost a quarter to reach $70.7 billion as compared to $57.2 billion during Q3-2021.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com

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