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Riding a wave of gains among Abu Dhabi’s largest companies, the combined earnings of 161 UAE-listed companies rose 16% y-o-y to AED 158.3 bn in 1H 2026 — an increase of AED 21.8 bn over the same period last year, Al Khaleej reports. Mega-cap state entities in Abu Dhabi did the heavy lifting, with just 20 companies generating AED 116 bn, or 73.3% of all market earnings.
The 98 companies reporting on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange generated AED 102.6 bn in combined earnings, up 30.6% y-o-y, while UAE-based firms’ income rose 32.8% to AED 97.6 bn. International Holding Company led the market at AED 17.9 bn in net income attributable to shareholders, up 228%, while Alpha Dhabi Holding’s bottom line rose 92% to AED 6.5 bn. Adnoc Logistics & Services also saw its earnings jump 174% to AED 4.1 bn.
Consumer-facing names on Dubai’s exchange saw earnings flatten: Across 65 Dubai-listed companies, combined earnings slipped 0.6% y-o-y to AED 61.5 bn. Excluding foreign companies, UAE firms’ earnings rose 9.3% to AED 48.9 bn. Emirates NBD remained the market’s top earnings driver at AED 12.8 bn, while Emaar Properties’ net income attributable to shareholders rose 22.5% to AED 8.7 bn — a bright spot, but not enough to lift an aggregate weighed down by an economy heavily exposed to tourism, real estate, and consumer spending.
OUR TAKE- Abu Dhabi’s economy runs on state-owned and government-linked megacaps in energy, utilities, and financials — sectors far more insulated against the fallout from the Iran conflict than Dubai’s exposure to tourism, real estate, and consumer activity, which are directly vulnerable to swings in regional risk sentiment.
The same divide is also evident in foreign capital flows: When renewed US-Iran escalation triggered USD 415 mn in Gulf-wide equity outflows in July, Abu Dhabi still pulled in a net USD 148 mn — the only Gulf bourse to draw inflows — while Dubai bled USD 174 mn. Century Financial’s Vijay Valecha attributes that flow pattern to the same sector mix driving the earnings gap: global capital treating Abu Dhabi’s energy-and-financials tilt as the safer conflict-era play.
