Translated by Tamara Barakat

The CEO of the Palestine Exchange (PEX), Ahmad Aweidah, announced that the overall profits of the PEX-listed companies reached 273 million dollars during 2015, with a 22% increase in comparison to 2014’s profits.

In his statement, Aweidah said that forty-two companies disclosed their 2015 financial statements within the legal period (45 days after the end of the fiscal year on December 31, 2015), forming 86% of the forty-nine PEX-listed companies.

Seven companies failed to disclose their financial statements within the legal period. Four companies disclosed their data one day after the legal period for disclosure ended, including Palestine Insurance Company, Global United Insurance, AL-Mashreq Insurance, and the Ramallah Summer Resorts. Both Al-Takaful Palestinian Insurance and Globalcom Telecommunications disclosed their statements on February 17, 2016. Ahleia Insurance Group has not disclosed its financial statements until today.

Aweidah added, “Regardless of the delay of some companies to disclose their financial statements, the number of companies who did disclose their statements within the legal period is ideal.” This was the result of the efforts of the PEX and Palestine Capital Market Authority. Such efforts involved sending reminders and messages to companies that included instructions and guidelines for the disclosure, in addition to communicating with the companies’ management to ensure their compliance.

 The financial statements of the companies (excluding Ahleia Insurance Group) revealed that 75% of the companies that submitted their disclosures made profits during 2015.

Thirty-six out of forty-eight listed companies made profits, including eight companies within the banking and financial services sector, all of the insurance companies, most of the investment companies, and the majority of the industrial companies. However, most of the companies within the services sector incurred losses. Aweidah also said that forty-three out of forty-eight companies either made profit or decreased their losses.

The disclosed financial statements of 2015 revealed that the overall profits of the forty-eight companies that submitted their disclosures reached 273.34 million dollars, after the deduction of the tax (overall profits of the companies who made profit minus the overall losses of the companies who incurred losses). The overall profits of the companies in 2014 was 224.47 million dollars. Consequently, profits increased by 21.77% in 2015 in comparison to 2014.

The overall profit made by the companies who made profit was 285.34 million dollars, after the deduction of the tax, marking an increase from the 257.68 million dollars made in profits in 2014.  

The overall losses of the companies who incurred losses reached 12 million dollars, while they reached 33.2 million dollars in 2014.

(Palestine Economy Portal)