Santhosh V. Perumal

The telecom and transport sectors exhibited strong growth in net earnings but overall the profitability of the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE)-listed firms were on the decline in 2019.

The cumulative net profit of the listed companies (except Baladna) witnessed a 5.53% year-on-year decline to QR38.57bn in 2019 against more than 7% growth in 2018.

The banking and industrials sectors together contributed about 79% of the cumulative net profits, according to figures collated by the QSE.

The overall year-on-year net profitability was dragged mainly by a double-digit shrinkage in the net earnings in the insurance, industrials and consumer goods sectors.

In 2019, the maximum drag in earnings came from the industrials sector, which saw eight of its entities register decline in net profits.

The industrials sector, which has 10 listed constituents, witnessed a huge 32.86% yearly plunge in net profitability to QR6.12bn against 22.68% increase the previous year. The sector contributed 15.87% to the overall net profitability of the listed entities in the review period.

The insurance sector, which has five listed companies, reported a 46.26% year-on-year plunge in cumulative net profit to QR0.33bn in 2019 compared to a 24.85% surge in the previous year. The sector had contributed 0.86% to the overall net profitability.

The consumer goods sector, which has 10 listed entities, witnessed a 10.36% year-on-year shrinkage in cumulative net profit to QR1.84bn at the end of December 31, 2019 compared to a 6% expansion in 2018. The sector contributed 4.77% to the overall net profitability in the review period.

The banks and financial services sector, which has 13 listed constituents, saw a 6.5% year-on-year growth in cumulative net profit to QR24.34bn compared to an 8.1% gain in 2018. The sector had contributed 63.11% in the overall net profitability during January-December 2019.

However, the telecom sector saw its net profit grow 11.03% to QR1.87bn in 2019 compared to a 1.88% fall in 2018. The sector contributed 4.85% to overall net profit in the review period.

The transport sector, which has three listed companies, recorded a 10% year-on-year growth in cumulative net profit to QR1.8bn in 2019 against a 7.36% rise in 2018. The sector's share in the overall net profitability was 4.67% in the review period.

The real estate segment, which has four listed entities, saw a 20.36% year-on-year contraction in net earnings to QR2.27bn in 2019 against a 27.71% decline in 2018. The sector constituted 5.89% of the overall net profitability in the review period.