Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” (KSE: Markaz, Reuters: MARKZ.KW, Bloomberg: MARKAZ:KK) reported its financial results for 2022 with Total Revenues of KD 18.8 million, as compared to KD 30.64 million in 2021. Markaz delivered a Net Profit attributable to shareholders of KD 2.86 million, as compared to KD 14.99 million in 2021, and Earnings Per Share of 6 Fils for the year ended 31 December 2022.
Mr. Diraar Yusuf Alghanim, Chairman stated: “The year 2022 witnessed major events and various challenges that impacted the global markets. These include the Russian war on Ukraine, the tightening of monetary policies by central banks through raising interest rates to curb inflation levels due to the increasing energy prices, in addition to China’s aggressive measures to counter the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, these challenges took a toll on the recovery achieved by the global markets in 2021, as most global indices declined.
Although the setbacks seen in the equity markets in general and the global markets in specific, impacted the Company’s overall activities, Markaz managed to minimize the impact on the Company’s overall activity and overcome the ramifications, recording Total Revenues (Excluding Gain from Investments at Fair Value) of KD 18.07 million, up by 19.4% y-o-y. The growth was led by a strong performance with Management Fees and Commission increasing by 14.8% to KD 11.3 million compared to KD 9.8 million in 2021, generating record-high management fees. Kuwait’s real estate market has recovered from the lows caused by the pandemic, supported by rising oil prices and waving COVID restrictions during 2022, which boosted rental and occupancy rates. Our net rental Income was KD 3.64 million, compared to KD 3.48 million in 2021, an increase of 4.7% y-o-y. This was driven by the gradual improvement of rental occupancy levels across our real estate portfolios. Markaz's Assets under Management (AUM) also grew 10.8% to KD 1.15 billion as of December 31, 2022.
Markaz launched new products and services during the year, including Market Making, new international real estate projects, and made improvements to our existing offerings. Our investment banking department continued to execute mandates successfully, and our Wealth Management and Business Development team enhanced its services by adding private equities and private debt to the platform. In addition, Markaz has not only strengthened its ability to withstand unfavorable and unstable market conditions, but also established a solid foundation for generating value and maintaining long-term growth.”