The cumulative net income of 152 companies listed on the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange, or Saudi Tadawul, totaled SAR25.7bn, or $6.9bn, in the first quarter of 2018, constituting a decrease of 16% from SAR30.6bn, or $8.2bn in the same quarter of 2017. Listed banks generated net profits of $3.3bn and accounted for 48.7% of total net earnings in the covered quarter. Basic materials firms followed with $2.4bn (34.5%), then telecommunications firms with $659.3m (9.6%), retailers with $128.3m (1.9%), energy companies with $118m (1.7%), real estate corporates with $98.5m (1.4%), healthcare firms with $82.1m, the food & beverage industry with $81.7m and capital goods corporates with $79.3m (1.2% each), financial services institutions with $45.1m (0.7%), consumer services companies with $39.5m and transportation firms with $37.7m (0.6% each), commercial & professional services companies with $27.1m (0.4%), and insurers with $23.6m and food & staples retailers with $20.2m (0.3% each). Further, the net earnings of energy companies increased by 2.8 times in the first quarter of 2018, followed by capital goods corporates (+2.1 times), real estate management & development firms (+12.8%), financial services institutions (+10.4%), banks (+7.4%), basic materials firms (+5%) and telecom companies (+4.8%). In contrast, the profits of insurers fell by 76.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, followed by consumer services companies (-35.2%), transportation firms (-29.3%), the food & beverages industry (-25%), retailers (-5.4%), food & staples retailers (-5%), and healthcare equipment & services firms (-4.9%). Also, the results of utilities companies shifted from profits of $1.3bn in the first quarter of 2017 to losses of $313.4m in the same quarter this year.
Source: KAMCO