Qatar Inc appears to have bettered its position in term of net earnings during January-September this year, notwithstanding the economic blockade imposed by some Gulf neighbours.
The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) listed companies’ first nine-month net profit saw a 6% decline year-on-year compared to an 11% plunge in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The listed companies’ net profit cumulated at QR29.26bn in the first nine months of this year against QR31.13bn in the year-ago period. While the banking sector saw net earnings growth gain pace, the real estate and industrials sectors witnessed considerably slowdown in their net profit declines.
As many as 18 companies witnessed expansion in their net earnings in the review period compared to 14 in the year-ago period.
Largely reflecting the realities in the net earnings, the Qatar Index, the headline index of the bourse, fell about 8% year-to-date ended September 30, 2017.
At present, the bourse has 45 listed entities with Vodafone Qatar alone following January-December format, while the remaining has April-March financial year. Investment Holding Group got listed only very recently.
The banking and financial services sector, which has 13 listed constituents, saw a 3% expansion in cumulative net profit to QR16.44bn compared to a little over 2% growth in the corresponding period of 2016.
The sector, whose share was 55% in the overall net profitability, witnessed its index shrink 4.88% year-to-date ended September 30, 2017.
The industrials sector, which has nine listed constituents, saw its cumulative net profit shrink 8.56% to QR5.45bn against a 21.55% plunge in the previous-year period.
The sector, which contributed about 19% to the overall net profitability of the listed companies, saw its index tank 8.61% in January-September 2017.
The real estate segment, which has four listed entities, witnessed its net profit drop 6.93% to QR3.09bn compared to about 40% slump in the similar period of 2016.
The sector, which constituted 11% of the overall net profitability, witnessed its index register 12.23% fall year-to-date ended September 30, 2017.
The transport sector, which has three listed companies, recorded 32.01% decline in cumulative net profit to QR1.13bn against a 10.45% fall in the previous-year period. The sector, which contributed 4% to the overall net profitability, saw its index plummet 12.64% in January-September 2017.
The consumer goods sector, which has nine listed entities, witnessed a 16.37% shrinkage in cumulative net profit to QR1.32bn in January-September 2017 against 11.16% fall a year-ago period. The sector, which contributed about 5% to the overall net profitability, saw its index trim 5.28% year-to-date ended September 30, 2017.
The insurance sector, which has five listed companies, reported the maximum decline of 55.89% in cumulative net profit to QR0.44bn in the first nine months of this year compared to 2.01% growth in the corresponding period of 2016.
The sector, which contributed 2% to the overall net profitability of the listed companies, saw its index plummet 16.96% during January-September this year.
The telecom sector cumulative net profit shrank 14.91% to QR1.56bn in January-September this year compared to a 4.19% expansion in the corresponding period of 2016. The sector index had fallen 8.35% year-to-date September 30, 2017.