(The Group’s Comments) QIMC’s Net Profit Drops to QAR 70 Million for the First Half of 2019

July 25, 2019

Profits: dropped by 35.4% to QAR 70.0 million for the first half of 2019, compared to QAR 108.3 million for the same period of 2018, while earnings per share amounted to QAR 0.147 versus QAR 0.228 for the corresponding period of 2018. QIMC’s second quarter profits reached QAR 36 million, compared to QAR 57.5 million for the corresponding period of 2018.

Comprehensive Income: investment valuation profits for the first half of 2019 amounted to QAR 3.37 million, compared to a loss of QAR 5.67 million for the same period in 2018.

Revenues: decreased by 4% to QAR 183.4 million for this first half, compared to QAR 191.3 million for the same period of 2018. On the other hand, the cost of revenues decreased by 1.4%, which put pressure on profitability margins and led to a decrease in the gross profit by QAR 6 million to QAR 42.7 million, compared to QR 48.7 million for the corresponding period of 2018. It should be noted that the ratio of sales cost to sales reached 77% versus 75% for the same period last year.

Operating Profit: recorded QAR 18.5 million in the first half of 2019, compared to QAR 32.1 million for the same period of 2018, a decrease of 42%, due to several factors:

-        Lower profitability margins as mentioned above (the decrease in costs lower than in sales).

-        The company's share in the profits of associates decreased by QAR 10 million.

-        Other Revenues also fell by QAR 10 million.

-        Non-recurring profits in 2018 that amounted to QAR 11.5 million relating to valuation of financial investments, which decreased during this first half to QAR 2.72 million.

-        Higher financing costs by about QAR 2.5 million due to the increase in interest rates and company debt, which amounted to about QAR 460.1 million, compared to QAR 392.7 million for the corresponding period of 2018.