By: Eman Ghaly
Mubasher: The financial statements of the 45 companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) showed a 19.5% year-on-year increase in their cash dividends for 2017, according to statistics by Mubasher.
Cash dividends announced by the QSE-listed firms amounted to QAR 21.7 billion last year, compared to QAR 18.2 billion in 2016.
The companies are distributed over seven sectors, namely: The banking, industrial, real estate, transportation, goods, insurance and telecommunication segments.
Only four of the 45 companies have recommended distributing no cash dividends to their shareholders for 2017, the statistics showed.
The banking sector acquired 48.99% of the 2017 dividends, followed by the industrial and goods segments with 26.06% and 6.83%, respectively.
Cash dividends of the real estate sector represented 6.52% of the total payments, followed by the telecommunications, insurance, transportation and financial services sectors with 5.17%, 3.21%, 3.01% and 0.19%, respectively.
Cash dividend volume
Cash dividends of the 45 listed companies represented 56.3% of their profits during the full-year 2017, according to Mubasher.
Meanwhile, the QSE’s profits rose 1.1% to QAR 35.55 billion last year, against QAR 38.13 billion in the prior year.
Bonus dividends
Bonus dividends of the Qatar-listed companies hiked 26.5% to QAR 537.61 billion in 2017, compared to QAR 425 billion in the previous year.
Three companies, comprising Ahli Bank, Qatar Insurance Company and Zad Holding Group, of the 45 listed firms recommended distributing bonus dividends for the last year.
Translated by: Kholoud Mohamed Hussein
