The Qatar Stock Exchange-listed companies have displayed robust performance in the first six months of this year as their total net profits increased 5.51% against an 11.22% decline the previous year period, according to the bourse data.

Doha's listed companies reported a cumulative net profit of QR25.73bn in H1-2024 with banks and industries contributing more than 76% to the total net earnings, said the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) data.

The improvement in the overall profitability of the listed companies comes amidst challenging macroeconomic environment owing to geopolitical uncertainties and high interest rate environment.

The H1-2024 net earnings growth was owing to substantial improvement in the profitability in the consumer goods and banking sectors, whose share in total earnings also grew comfortably.

The consumer goods and services sector, which has 13 listed entities, saw its total net profit surge 22.78% year-on-year (y-o-y) to QR0.93bn at the end of six-month ended June 30, 2024 against 18.72% plunge in the comparable period of 2023. The sector contributed 3.61% to the overall net profitability in the review period against 3.08% in H1-2023.

The banks and financial services sector, which has 13 listed entities, reported a 7.61% year-on-year jump in total net profit to QR14.91bn compared to 3.05% expansion year-ago period. The net profitability jump was on robust earnings of lenders amid high interest rate regime, brought about by fixed exchange parity with the US dollar.

The sector contributed 57.95% to the total net profits of the listed companies in January-June 2024 against 56.83% the previous year period.

The industrials sector, which has 10 listed constituents, saw a marginal 0.14% year-on-year growth in net profitability to QR4.65bn in the first six months of 2024 compared to a 45.89% decline in H1-2023. As many six of the listed industrials saw decline in net earnings on an annualised basis, even as certain underlying entities saw higher fortunes on account of demand revival and therefore higher realised prices across sectors.

The sector contributed 18.07% to the overall net earnings of the listed entities in H1-2024 against 19.02% the comparable period in 2023.

The insurance sector, which has seven companies, registered a 14.66% annual surge in net earnings to QR0.72bn against 71.31% growth in H1-2023. The sector contributed 2.8% to the overall net profitability in January-June 2024 against 2.58% the previous year period.

The telecom sector, which has two constituents, reported net profit of QR2.16bn, which was 8.39% of the total net profits in H1-2024 against 8.41% the comparable period of 2023. The sector reported 5.35% growth in net profit in the first six months of this year compared to 19.86% a year-ago period.

The transport sector, which has three listed constituents, saw total net profits grow 1.36% year-on-year to QR1.56bn compared to 3.47% growth in H1-2023. The sector's net profit constituted 6.06% to the total net profit of the listed companies in January-June 2024 against 6.31% in the comparable period of 2023.

The realty segment, which has four listed entities, saw total net earnings plummet 12.32% year-on-year to QR0.8bn in H1-2024 against a 7.15% decline in 2023 period. The sector constituted 3.11% to the overall net profitability in January-June 2024 compared to 3.77% a year-ago period.