The net income of listed companies in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries reached $68.6bn in 2018, constituting an increase of 3.5% from $66.3bn in 2017. Earnings reached $18.1bn in the first quarter of 2018, $18.7bn in the second quarter, $19bn in the third quarter and $12.8bn in the fourth quarter of the year. Listed companies in Saudi Arabia accounted for $28.2bn, or 41.2% of total corporate earnings in 2018, followed by listed firms in Qatar with $11.3bn (16.5%), Abu Dhabi with $10.5bn (15.3%), Dubai with $9.1bn (13.3%), Kuwait with $5.8bn (8.5%), Bahrain with $2bn (2.9%), and Oman with $1.6bn (2.3%). Further, the earnings of listed firms in Kuwait increased by 10.7% in 2018, followed by profits of listed corporates in Dubai (+8.8%), Qatar (+6.3%), Bahrain (+6%), Saudi Arabia (+1.3%) and Oman (+0.7%). In contrast, total earnings of listed companies in Abu Dhabi decreased by 1.3% last year. In parallel, the earnings of listed banks in the GCC region reached $36.9bn in 2018 and accounted for 53.8% of total corporate earnings, followed by materials firms with $10.1bn (14.7%), telecommunications companies with $7.7bn (11.2%), real estate firms with $5.5bn (8%) and companies in the capital goods sector with $2.1bn (3.1%). Also, the earnings of listed companies in the capital goods sector increased by 31.3% in 2018, followed by materials firms (+13.5%), banks (+11.8%), telecom firms (+11.6%), and real estate companies (+1.9%). In contrast, the profits of listed firms in the healthcare industry decreased by 62.5%, followed by companies in the utilities sector (-56.2%), and corporates in the food, beverage & tobacco industry (-41.7%). 
Source: KAMCO