KUWAIT CITY, 20 July 2005 — Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) yesterday announced first half profits of $155 million, up 94 percent on the $80 million posted in the same period of last year.
“The positive outcome of the new strategy adopted by the GIC since 2001 is now witnessed in the noticeable growth in the corporation’s profitability and the size and diversity of its business,” said Chairman Fahd ibn Faisal Al-Thani.
CEO Hisham Al-Razzuqi said the “diversification of sources of income has had a considerable impact on GIC’s performance during the first half of 2005.”
Investment in projects in the Gulf region yielded a net profit of $72 million in the first half of the year, while the rest was realized through various investment activities in the Gulf and abroad, Razzuqi said.
In March, GIC launched the first Gulf Bond Fund following its first Gulf Equity Fund launched in April 2003. The latter fund had posted a return of 61 percent in the first half of the year and 237 percent since its inception, he said. GIC, with an authorized capital of $2.1 billion, was established in 1983 by the Gulf Cooperation Council and is owned equally by its six member states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.