KUWAIT: KIPCO - the Kuwait Projects Company (Holding) - has announced a 12 per cent increase in its net profit for the first nine months of 2019, standing at KD 22.8million ($75 million) from the KD 20.4 million ($67.1million)reported for the same period last year. Earnings per share came to 7.5 fils per share ($2.5 cents), compared to 9.3 fils per share ($3.1 cents) reported for the same period last year.
This is owed mainly to the company's capital increase, as well as the one time increase in interest and other payments on perpetual capital securities held by a Group bank. KIPCO's net profit for the three months ended September 30, 2019 increased 10 per cent to reach KD 9.18million ($30.2million) from the KD 8.32 million ($27.4 million) reported for the same period last year. The company's consolidated assets came to KD 9.8billion ($32billion), compared to KD 10.4 billion ($34 billion) reported at year-end 2018.

Faisal Al Ayyar, KIPCO's Vice Chairman (Executive), said: "The results we achieved in the first nine months of 2019 continue to be promising and indicate that we are on the right growth trajectory. While we have been guarded in our expectations since the beginning of the year, given the continued geopolitical tension in the region, these positive results are a testament of the effectiveness of our long-term strategy, internal streamlining and the positive performance and growth our core companies have been able to achieve."

He added: "Our prudent business model, long-term debt management and transparency have earned KIPCO the great respect and confidence of investors and international markets. This is reflected in the oversubscription of the company's share capital increase, which was completed successfully in the first half of this year.

Last month, we also successfully completed the issuance of a US$ 500 million bond that saw a demand of $3.6 billion on the order book, making it KIPCO's largest ever in international debt capital markets and representing a seven-fold oversubscription. These achievements, together with the positive growth we continue to achieve, reaffirm KIPCO's position as a role model for the MENA region's private sector."