Kuwait Business: GCC firms’ net profits soar to record high of $196.5bn in 2021 – Gulf Digital News

Kuwait Business: GCC firms’ net profits soar to record high of $196.5bn in 2021 – Gulf Digital News

Earnings of GCC-listed companies jumped to a record high of $196.5 billion in 2021 as compared to $93.1 billion during 2020, according to Kamco Invest, a premier investment company based in Kuwait.

The $103.5 billion growth came mainly on the back of jump in profits for Saudi Aramco (by $56.1 billion or 113.8% y-o-y) followed by Banking, Materials and Utilities companies.

The four sectors accounted for 85% of the total full-year net profit in 2021.

The recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the relaxation of the restrictions globally significantly impacted economies in the GCC region supporting the robust performance in earnings for FY-2021.

Sectoral gains

Most of the sectors showed solid increase in net profits during the year. especially, the Utilities and Transportation Sector witnessed remarkable jump in net profits 2021 after suffering subpar performance during the pandemic.

Out of the 21 sectors, 4 sectors witnessed y-o-y decline in profits whereas the rest reported growth. At the exchange level, Oman was the only market which reported a decline in aggregate net profits for listed companies during FY-2021 with a fall of 3.7%.

In terms of sectors, profitability for the GCC banking sector reached one of the highest yearly levels during 2021, increasing by 52.9% to reach $35.4