Corporate earnings in the Gulf states rose 10 per cent last year, for the first time surpassing their highest level before the global financial crisis, a report said.

Net profits of the 658 listed companies on the seven bourses of the GCC states reached $68 billion in 2014 compared with $61.7 billion the previous year, investment firm Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) said in a report.

It was the first time Gulf corporate earnings had surpassed $63.2 billion, which was recorded in 2007 a year before the financial crisis hit, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The net profits of GCC companies rose by six per cent in the second half of last year compared with the same period in 2013, Markaz said.

The growth came despite GCC stock markets being battered in the second half of 2014 because of the sharp fall in oil prices.

Markaz projected that GCC companies' earnings will rise by 5.5 per cent to $71.2 billion in 2015.

Banks, financial services and real estate sectors accounted for most of the increase in profits which were dragged down by a 10 per cent decline in the telecommunications sector's earnings, Markaz said.

The UAE led with the highest growth in corporate profits, recording a 32 per cent rise, followed by Bahrain with 11 per cent and Kuwait at eight per cent.

Qatari companies saw their profits grow by six per cent, while Saudi Arabia and Oman rose by a mediocre three per cent and two per cent respectively because of the oil price fall.

Saudi petrochemicals giant Sabic, the largest listed Gulf firm in terms of capitalisation, topped the list with the highest profit at $6.25 billion despite a seven per cent fall in 2013, Markaz said. - TradeArabia News Service