Abu Dhabi races ahead of Dubai as GCC earnings hit another record

UAE-listed companies had a strong 2Q despite the knock-on effects of the war, with combined net income across Abu Dhabi and Dubai jumping 28.6% y-o-y to USD 21.6 bn, according to Kamco Invest’s latest corporate earnings report (pdf). Abu Dhabi did most of the heavy lifting: Listed companies saw earnings surge 41.8% to USD 14.7 bn, versus Dubai’s more measured 4.9% rise to USD 6.9 bn.

The Abu Dhabi snapshot: The banking and food, beverage, and tobacco segments both posted USD 3.5 bn in earnings, with the latter segment’s income more than tripling. This came largely from IHC’s non-operating gains. Capital goods also saw significant growth, rising 170% and led by 2PointZero.

Over in Dubai, banks and real estate accounted for 75.9% of exchange-wide earnings. Growth in banking income was mainly attributed to our friends at Mashreq, while income from recurring revenue portfolios boosted real estate results. Utilities saw a slight dip y-o-y but were still up 9.3% y-o-y for 1H.

That’s an acceleration from 1Q: Abu Dhabi-listed earnings had risen 16.1% y-o-y in the first quarter, compared with Dubai’s 12.3%.

Still, there were some declines: Abu Dhabi energy earnings fell 30.4% to USD 1.6 bn, from USD 2.3 bn a year earlier, as the Iran war cut into export volumes even as prices spiked.

!SubHed! Zooming out

GCC corporate earnings hit another record in 2Q: Aggregate net income jumped 31.3% y-o-y to USD 74.8 bn, marking the region’s second straight quarter of annual growth, according to the report.

Oil did much of the heavy lifting: Energy sector earnings surged 41.6% y-o-y to USD 36.2 bn as higher crude prices more than offset weaker regional export volumes. Saudi Aramco alone reported USD 32.3 bn in net income, up 42%, after realized crude prices climbed to USD 108.1 / bbl from USD 66.7 / bbl a year earlier.

The regional scoreboard was less uniform: Saudi-listed companies posted a 36.7% jump in earnings, and Oman gained 24.2%, while Qatari-listed earnings fell 20% as telecom, energy, and real estate dragged. Bahrain was broadly flat, and Kuwait’s near-doubling came off a weak comparison base distorted by Agility’s prior-year losses.