Foreign investors bullish on Qatar Exchange listed firms

04/03/2015 07:44 AST

Global investors are bullish on most of the Qatar listed companies as they increased their stakes in these companies last year. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), global fund managers and individual investors have raised their stakes substantially in companies operating in Qatar in 2014.

Of the total 43 companies listed on Qatar Exchange (QE), global investors have increased their stake in 25 of them, according to Qatar Exchange data.

The companies which saw their non-Qatari ownership moving up sharply during 2014 were Al Meera, Vodafone Qatar and the Qatar Electricity and Water Company.

Non-Qatari ownership, which includes ownership by companies, funds, portfolio and individual investors, in Al Meera went up to 12.96 percent of its total capital, as on 31 December last year, from 7.76 percent of its total capital, as on 2 January 2014.

Likewise non-Qatari ownership in Vodafone went up to 7.3 percent of its total capital, as on 31 December last year, from 4.59 percent of its total capital, as on 2 January 2014.

Non-Qatari ownership in the Qatar Electricity and Water Company went up to 10.20 percent of its total capital, as on 31 December last year, from 7.07 percent of its total capital, as on 2 January 2014.

Experts say that rising stake in Qatar listed companies shows that global investors expect these companies to grow in future.

“It (increasing ownership of global investors) means that global investors believe that these companies have strong fundamentals and they will grow in future,” said an analyst with Qatar based brokerage firm. “At the time when global economy is witnessing volatility due to ongoing financial uncertainty in Eurozone and slowdown in China, global investors have fewer options to invest,” he said.

QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Qatar, Doha Bank, Gulf Warehousing Company and Islamic Holding also witnessed stake of non-Qatari investors moving up during the year.

During the year, 18 companies listed on Qatar exchange witnessed fall in the stake of non-Qatari investors. Going forward, profitability of companies is likely to come under pressure which may prompt global investors to look for another companies to invest. Crude oil price has fallen drastically and is now trading around $60-a-barrel much lower than the price of over $100-a- barrel seen last year.

The Peninsula