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A June report from Kamco Invest placed aggregate first-quarter net profits for companies listed across GCC exchanges at a record $67.9 billion. That total marked a 15.5 percent increase from $58.8 billion in the same period of 2025 while revenues rose 7.7 percent to $353.3 billion. The Kuwait-based investment firm attributed the advance mainly to stronger results from the energy sector, particularly Saudi Aramco, together with gains in banking, food and beverage, and capital goods.
Saudi Arabia accounted for the bulk of the regional earnings with listed companies there delivering $44.4 billion in net profits, up 22.2 percent year on year, according to Kamco Invest data. Saudi Aramco reported net income of $32.5 billion for the three months ended March 31 compared with $26 billion a year earlier while its adjusted net income climbed 26 percent to $33.6 billion. Saudi banks lifted combined profits by 7.7 percent to $6.4 billion with notable contributions from Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi National Bank and Bank Albilad.
Abu Dhabi-registered firms increased earnings 16.1 percent to $10.6 billion and Dubai-listed companies advanced 12.3 percent to $6.8 billion, the analysis showed. Bahrain and Oman recorded rises of 17.6 percent and 4 percent respectively. Qatar posted a 3.3 percent decline and Kuwait saw profits drop 48.9 percent, leaving those two markets as the only ones to register falls.
Sequential growth proved even stronger with profits surging more than 40 percent from the fourth quarter of 2025. “In terms of sequential performance, the growth in profits was even higher at over 40 percent vs. the fourth quarter of 2025 and was once again led by higher profits for the energy sector coupled with growth in profits for companies in the materials and banking sectors,” Kamco Invest said in its report. The quarterly expansion received partial offset from contractions in real estate and food and beverage.
The first-quarter performance arrives as World Bank projections from 2025 anticipated GCC economic growth to accelerate to 4.5 percent in 2026 supported by non-oil sector momentum and normalized oil output. Non-hydrocarbon activity had expanded 3.7 percent in 2024 setting a platform for continued corporate results the multilateral institution noted in its assessment. A prior Kamco Invest report had flagged that corporate earnings hit a 12-quarter low in the final quarter of 2025.
Net profits among Saudi telecom operators rose 6.3 percent to $1.3 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier further reinforcing the Kingdom’s contribution Kamco Invest figures indicate. The report examined more than 300 listed entities across the six GCC states to compile the aggregates. Supplementary data from the firm showed that listed banks region-wide recovered 4.6 percent on a quarterly basis to $16.8 billion in net profits.
