Corporate profits in the second quarter revealed a widening divide between Gulf economies six months into the Iran war. Listed companies in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi are growing quickly, benefiting from higher oil prices and their ability to keep energy exports flowing, while firms in Bahrain, Dubai, and Qatar were still profitable but are feeling the impact of disruption to trade, travel, and gas exports. Aramco alone had $32.3 billion in net profit in the second quarter, around 43% of the region’s $74.8 billion in listed-company profits, according to KAMCO Invest, a Kuwait-based asset manager.
Kuwait was an outlier last quarter. The country has been hit hard by Iranian strikes and hasn’t exported much oil since March, but earnings growth rose sharply, reflecting a lower base and one-off gains in banking and telecoms rather than broader economic strength.