Qatar Stock Exchange to do more for effective corporate disclosure

16/08/2017 07:06 AST

Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rashid bin Ali Al Mansoori (pictured) has said the corporate disclosures in the country is one of the best in the region in terms of transparency. The bourse will, though, talk to all the stakeholders and make sure that the financial of the listed companies are in line with the global best practices.

“Right now, we don’t have any issue. But we do believe this is not the end. We will continue to further improve the quality corporate disclosures”, Al Mansoori told The Peninsula.

Earlier, talking to The Peninsula, a section of Qatar-based fund managers had shared the concern that lack of transparency in the corporate disclosures of some listed companies was an issue for international investors. They were of the view that some largest publicly traded companies do not demonstrate enough transparency measures to help investors take proper investment decisions. They could make quality fundamental analysis of the companies only if they get access to quality financial reports. They said companies with hard to make out disclosures are riskier as investors can never be sure about those companies’ real fundamentals.

Responding to the concerns raised by the fund managers, Al Mansoori said. “ I don’t think it is an issue right now in Qatar. But we will do more to ensure the companies are committed to the international best practices. Currently, we are in discussions with all the stake holders”, he said.

On the steps being taken by the neighbouring economies to bolster their respective capital markets, and a plausible capital outflows from Qatar to the neighbouring markets, the QSE Chief said Qatar was hardly worried about that. “Qatar, as you know, is the strongest and fastest growing economy in the region. So, we are not worried about other economies and their markets. Qatar is attracting lot of investors. Despite ongoing geopolitical crisis, we see big funds opening their accounts here. More than 70 foreign funds have opened their accounts during the last one month. It’s really because of the attractiveness of this (Qatari) market that these foreign investors are showing their interests in Qatar”, Al Mansoori said.

Meanwhile, 44 of the total 45 listed companies at QSE have disclosed their financial statements results for the six month period ended June 30, 2017, The combined net profit of all companies as of June 30, 2017 amounted to QR20bn, down from QR 21.7bn (-7.8 percent) reported for the corresponding period in 2016.

The Peninsula