Net Profits of GCC-Listed Firms Up 2% in Q1-2025
- Business Companies Earnings GCC
Global Business Magazine- 6 minutes read
The aggregate net profits reported by the companies listed on GCC exchanges increased by 2% y-o-y during the first quarter of this year to reach $58.6 billion compared with $57.4 billion during the same period in 2024.
According to GCC Corporate Earnings report for Q1-2025, published by Kuwait-based Kamco Invest, the marginal improvement in profitability was mainly led by a y-o-y increase in profits for banks, telecom and real estate sectors that more than offset a decline in profits for the energy, materials and food and beverage sectors.
The sequential growth in profits was slightly better with a growth of 2.3% also led by higher profits for banks, telecom and the real estate sectors. The capital goods sector also showed a healthy y-o-y growth in profits with an increase of 51.9%, although there was a steep decline in profits by 42.9% as compared with Q4 of 2024.
The energy sector continued to remain a drag on overall profitability growth in Q1 of 2025 with a decline of 5.7% when compared with the same period of Q1 of 2024, although a majority of the companies in the sector reported higher y-o-y net profits during the quarter.
Moreover, the sector showed significant improvement as compared to the previous quarter. The y-o-y decline in profits for the sector was led by fall in oil prices with average brent crude prices down by 8.5% during Q1 of 2025 at $75.9 per barrel as compared to the average for Q1 of 2024.
Net profits reported by Saudi Aramco dropped by 7.5% y-o-y during the quarter, accounting for bulk of the decline in profits at the GCC level. Excluding Aramco’s results, total GCC corporate profits showed an increase of 10.7% y-o-y during Q1 of 2025.
On the other hand, a healthy growth in profits for the GCC banking sector helped to partially offset the bulk of the decline in earnings. Aggregate earnings for the GCC banking sector surged 10.0% y-o-y or by $1.5 billion to reach $16 billion in the first quarter. The q-o-q growth was also strong at 11.9% vs. Q4 of 2024.
The y-o-y growth reflected growth in earnings for five out of seven markets while the remaining two reported marginal declines. Earnings for banks in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain showed double-digit growth during Q1 of 2025 as compared with Q1 of 2024.
Energy Sector
Within the energy sector, net profits for 17 out of the 27 listed companies showed improvements while ten companies reported y-o-y declines. Among the prominent gainers, net profit for ADNOC Gas increased by 6.9% during the quarter to reach $1.3 billion led by higher demand for domestic gas as well as reduction in plant idle days during the first quarter of this year.
Net profits for ADNOC Drilling also improved by almost a quarter to reach $340.9 million, mainly led by 32.1% increase in total revenues backed by revenues from new onshore rigs as well as contribution from unconventional business.
On the other hand, Rabigh Refining lowered its losses by $179.7 million to $184.2 million in Q1-2025, from $363.9 million in Q1 of 2024 led by 44% increase in revenues that was supported by higher sales volume on both refined and petrochemical products during the quarter.
Net profits for the GCC telecom sector showed a strong y-o-y growth of 45.3% to reach $3.5 billion during Q1 of 2025. The increase was led by a broad-based double-digit growth in y-o-y profits across most countries in the GCC.
Telecom Sector
Net profits for e& (Emirates Telecom) surged almost 130% to reach $1.46 billion during Q1 of 2025 mainly led by higher revenues that increased by 18.7% during the quarter. STC also reported higher profits with an increase of 11% to reach $972.4 million during Q1 of 2025.
The net profits for Zain Group increase by two-thirds to reach $158.7 million during Q1 of 2025 led by 15% increase in revenues with strong performance across major countries of operations.
Net profits for the real estate sector increased by 55.5% y-o-y during Q1 of 2025 to reach $2.9 billion. The increase was led by strong double-digit gain in profits in most countries in the GCC, the report said.
Net profits for real estate companies in the UAE increased by 38% during the quarter to reach $2.1 billion while companies in Saudi Arabia showed multi-fold y-o-y increase to register total net profit of $472.7 million for the same period.
