Qatar National Cement Company (QNCC) has reported a marginal increase in net profit to QR118.64mn in the first three months despite flat total income.
Sales rose 1% to QR267.34mn while cost of sales surged 4% to QR145.30mn, translating into as a 2% dip in gross profit to QR122.04mn.
Other income rose 25% to QR12.88mn and income from associates by 47%to QR1.50mn. Nevertheless, its total income was flat at QR136.19mn.
Selling and distribution expenses fell 5% to QR2.07mn, general and administrative costs by mere 0.19% to QR15.45mn and finance costs by 57% to QR0.26mn.
Total assets were valued at QR2.52bn comprising current assets of QR0.68bn and non-current assets of QR1.84bn.
Total shareholders equity stood at QR2.25bn on a capital base of QR491.0amn and earnings-per-share was QR2.42 at the end of March 31, 2013.
Ahli United
Bahrain's Ahli United Bank posted a big jump in first-quarter net profit yesterday as its earnings were boosted by a one-time gain from the sale of a stake in a Qatari associate, with earnings excluding this also showing healthy growth.
The kingdom's largest lender by market value booked a $212.9mn gain after selling a 29.4% stake in Qatar's Ahli Bank in January to Qatar Foundation.
This sent the bank's net attributable profit for the three months to March 31 up to $309.8mn from $86.4mn in the corresponding period of last year, a statement on the Bahrain bourse said.
Without the one-off gain net profit for the quarter was $96.9mn, up 12.2% on the same three months of 2012.
The bank attributed the year-on-year profit increase to an 11% growth in net interest income, which rose to $167.4mn in the first three months of 2013.
It also recorded an 18.6% growth in deposits over the first quarter to $21.6bn from $18.2bn at the end of 2012. The bank did not say what contributed to the increase but said the inflow allowed it to reduce its borrowing on the interbank market by 26% in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Ahli United is expected to be one of the Bahraini lenders identified by the country's central bank as key to the stability of its financial system.
Rakbank
The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah, a UAEs-based lender better known as Rakbank, yesterday reported a 13% year-on-year rise in first-quarter net profit on higher interest and investment income.
Rakbank's net profit of 368mn dirhams came as quarterly net interest income climbed 6% compared to the same period last year, it said in a statement on the Abu Dhabi bourse website. Net interest income reached 571mn dirhams in the quarter, the bank said. Investment income also jumped by 50% year-on-year as Rakbank continued to invest in quoted debt instruments during the quarter, it said.
Aramex
Dubai-based Aramex yesterday said it continues to focus on expanding in growth markets through acquisitions and franchising as part of its growth plans, after the logistics provider posted a 14% rise in first-quarter profit.
The company made a three-month net profit of 69.4mn dirhams ($18.9mn), up from 61mn dirhams in the year before period, Aramex said in statement posted on the Dubai bourse website.
"As expected, our operations in core markets, especially in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, continue to grow with healthy margins, and we were very satisfied with the increasing positive contribution of our operations in Africa to the company's overall performance," said Hussein Hachem, the company's chief executive officer.
Its revenues amounted to 810mn dirhams in the last quarter, compared with 745mn dirhams in the first quarter of 2012.
Wataniya
Kuwait's second-biggest telecom company, Wataniya, failed to halt a profit slump in the first quarter as rivals stepped up competition in its domestic market and political turmoil hurt business in Tunisia.
Kuwait, Tunisia and Algeria are Wataniya's core markets and only Algeria boosted the bottom line in the first quarter. Tunisian profit was depressed further by a $16mn tax bill.
Wataniya's competitors at home are former monopoly Zain and Viva, an affiliate of the Gulf's No 2 operator Saudi Telecom Co.
Since its launch in 2008, Viva has cut prices aggressively and built a mobile market share of 21% by the end of December, according to Zain's annual report.
"For most Gulf telecom operators, their competitive edge is dependent on their capital expenditure and, in Kuwait, Wataniya is lagging Zain," said Umar Faruqui, a senior analyst at Global Investment House in Kuwait. "Viva has strong financial backing, which will allow it to keep up the competitive pressure and Wataniya will find it tough to arrest the decline in home revenue," he said. Wataniya made a net profit of 19.5mn dinars ($68.4mn) in the three months to March 31, down from 28.3mn dinars a year ago, its fifth straight drop in quarterly profit, despite growing revenue and customer numbers.
Two analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that Wataniya - a unit of Ooredoo (formerly Qatar Telecom) - would make a profit of between 18.8mn and 20mn dinars.
First-quarter profit from its Kuwait operations fell 39% to 9.5mn dinars, outpacing a 9% drop in revenue to 52.7mn.
Quarterly profit from unit Tunisiana fell by nearly two thirds to 3.8mn dinars after the subsidiary paid 4.7mn dinars in back-taxes.
Tunisiana's quarterly revenue fell 3.1% to 47.6 dinars even as its customer base grew 6.3%. The Tunisian dinar fell about 6% to the dollar in the 12 months to March 31, making Tunisiana's earnings worth less to Wataniya.
© Gulf Times 2013
