DOHA: Qatari listed companies have failed to impress investors with their net profits that add up to QR28.5bn ($7.80bn) year-on-year in the first three quarters of this year, up a meagre 1.88 percent over the same period in 2011.
Qatar Exchange (QE) announced on its website yesterday that 41 of the 42 listed entities had all reported their financials for the three quarters except Vodafone Qatar whose financial year is from April to March.
Calculations made by this newspaper suggest that just three of the 42 entities—large cap Industries Qatar (IQ), Qatar National Bank (QNB), the country’s largest lender, and Qatar Telecom (Qtel)—have a lion’s share of over 53 percent (QR15.2bn or $4.16bn) in the profit volume.
As always, banks have led the profit growth driven by their large credit portfolios, together contributing QR12.4bn ($3.39bn), or 43.31 percent, to the total. The sector has maintained its vibrancy achieving growth in double digits (10.61 percent) over the first three quarters of 2011.
The insurance counters have disappointed investors with a drop in their net profits for the period under review. Their profit volume shrank 9.54 percent to QR639m as compared to almost QR700m in the first nine months of 2011. The downslide was led by the country’s largest risk underwriter, Qatar Insurance Company.
The Qatar German Medical Devices Company, a pharmaceutical products manufacturer, continues to remain in the red. Its losses rose marginally to QR5.1m between January and September from QR3.5m in the corresponding period of 2011.
The company has been part of the industrial sector but after regrouping Qatar Exchange (QE) has included it among Consumer Goods and Services entities. The listed companies are classified into seven counters now as against four earlier—the addition being, apart from Consumer Goods and Services, Transport, Real Estate and Telecommunication.
So barring Vodafone Qatar and Qatar-German Medical Devices Company, 40 of the 42 listed companies have all posted profits. Average profit of the listed companies works out to QR678.5m with only 10 of them breaching that level led, of course, by IQ, QNB and Qtel. Interestingly, five of the eight banks have their net profits to the tune of a billion riyals or more. The only other two entities that have achieved the remarkable feat are IQ and Qtel.
Utility producer Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) has been inching closer to achieving that status as its nine-month net profits (almost QR980m) narrowly missed the magical QR1bn-mark. Large cap Woqod (Qatar Fuel Company) and Barwa Real Estate have been trailing as close competitors, having netted QR876m and QR779m in profits, respectively, in the three quarters.
Based on the nine-month profit figure the annual profit volume of the listed companies is expected to cross the $10bn-mark by 2012-end.
The Peninsula
