KIPCO announces H1 net profit of KD 21.7 mln, up 20 percent
Total revenue rises 18 pct to KD 289 mln
KUWAIT CITY, July 23: KIPCO — the Kuwait Projects Company — has announced a net profit of KD 21.7 million (US$ 77 million) in the first six months of 2014, an increase of 20 per cent on the KD 18.1 million (US$ 63.4 million) profit reported for the same period last year.
In the second quarter (the three months ended 30 June, 2014) KIPCO made a net profit of KD 11.4 million (US$ 40.5 million), an increase of 20 per cent on the KD 9.5 million (US$ 33.3 million) profit reported in the same period of 2013.
KIPCO’s earnings per share in the first half of 2014 increased 21 per cent to 15.27 fils (US$ 5.4 cents) compared to 12.66 fils (US$ 4.4 cents) in the same period last year.
KIPCO’s total revenue for the first six months of 2014 increased by 18 per cent to KD 289 million (US$ 1.03 billion) compared to the KD 244 million (US$ 855 million) for the first half of 2013.
The company also saw a 22 per cent rise in operating profit before provisions for the first half of 2014 to KD 78 million (US$ 277 million) from the KD 64 million (US$ 224 million) reported in the first half of 2013.
KIPCO’s consolidated assets increased in the first half of 2014, to KD 9.1 billion (US$ 32.3 billion) from KD 8.6 billion (US$ 30.5 billion) at year end 2013.
Mr Masaud Hayat, KIPCO’s Chief Executive Officer — Banking, said the company’s first half results showed that it is on course to maintain its target of double-digit revenue growth in 2014:
“In our Shafafiyah Investors’ Forum, which was held in March, we expected our core businesses to continue achieving double-digit profit growth in 2014. Following our first quarter — where we saw significant growth across all sectors — these first half results continue to meet our expectations. Our financial services and media segments have delivered 18% and 35% respective increases in revenue in the first half of the year, while our real estate operations have reported a 12% rise in revenue for the same period. These results show that our core companies are delivering the performances we expected for 2014 and we believe this growth performance will continue throughout the year.”