“Al-Shal”: 50 companies increased profits in the first half, while 14 turned profitable or reduced losses
- “Telecommunications” posted the best performance with KD 261.3 million
- “Banks” recorded the highest net profits at approximately KD 922.2 million
- “Real Estate” increased its profits to approximately KD 44 million
The weekly report stated that 135 companies announced their financial results for the first half of the current year, representing approximately 97 percent of the total 139 listed companies. These companies achieved net profits of KD 1.361 billion, an increase of 7.3 percent compared to the first half of 2025 (KD 1.268 billion). The second quarter saw a rise of approximately 149.2 percent in profit levels compared to the first quarter, as these companies earned approximately KD 970.9 million in the second quarter of the current year, compared to approximately KD 389.6 million in the first quarter.
The report indicated that six out of 13 active sectors increased their profitability levels when comparing their performance with the first half of 2025, while profits in four sectors declined, and two sectors reduced their losses. Only one sector shifted from profitability to losses. The best performer in terms of absolute value increase was Telecommunications, which achieved profits of approximately KD 261.3 million compared to approximately KD 186 million, an increase of approximately KD 75.3 million, or 40.5 percent. The second sector was Banking, which recorded the highest level of net profits at approximately KD 922.2 million compared to approximately KD 881.8 million, an absolute increase of KD 40.4 million, or 4.6 percent. Real Estate followed, increasing its profits by approximately KD 34.4 million to reach approximately KD 44 million, an increase of approximately KD 9.6 million, or 28 percent.
The report noted that 64 companies achieved net profits by the end of the first half, including 50 that increased their profit levels, and 14 that either turned profitable or reduced their loss levels. Thus, 47.4 percent of companies showed performance improvement, compared to 83 companies that improved their performance in the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, 71 companies experienced a decline in performance, including 62 whose profit levels dropped, while nine increased their losses or shifted from profitability to losses. This compares to 52 companies that showed a decline in performance within the same sample during the same period last year.
In the list of most profitable companies, 10 leading firms achieved profits of approximately KD 1.171 billion, representing approximately 86.1 percent of the total absolute profits of all announced companies, and approximately 71 percent of the total number of profitable companies. Kuwait Finance House topped the list with approximately KD 363.1 million, followed by National Bank of Kuwait with approximately KD 324.8 million, Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain) in third place with approximately KD 220.2 million, and Kuwait Finance House (Commercial Bank) in fourth place with approximately KD 62.3 million.
Domestic workers account for 25.6 percent of the total expatriate workforce in Kuwait, reaching approximately 783,900 workers by the end of the first quarter of 2026, according to the Central Statistical Bureau. This represents a 5.2 percent increase from the 745,100 workers recorded in the first quarter of 2025. This domestic workforce is distributed between 450,900 female workers and 333,000 male workers. The Philippines leads among female domestic workers with 133,200, while India leads among male domestic workers with approximately 206,100. India tops the overall domestic workforce figures for both genders, accounting for 39.1 percent of the total, followed by Sri Lanka at 17.4 percent. Four nationalities—India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Bangladesh—account for 86.1 percent of the domestic workforce out of ten nationalities, while the remaining six nationalities hold a maximum of 8 percent, with Nepal at the top and Sudan at the bottom with 0.2 percent. Among the ten countries exporting domestic workers, four are African: Ethiopia leads with a 2.8 percent share of this workforce, followed by Benin at approximately 1.7 percent, Mali at approximately 0.3 percent, and Sudan at approximately 0.2 percent. When combining domestic worker figures with other categories of expatriate labor, the total Indian workforce reaches 887,100 (compared to 883,800 in the first quarter of 2025). Their share stands at 28.9 percent of the total workforce, including Kuwaiti nationals, and approximately 33.7 percent of the total expatriate workforce, ranking first in both categories. The Egyptian workforce follows, with a total of 468,400 (compared to 471,800), representing 15.3 percent of the total and 17.8 percent of the total expatriate workforce. In third place is the Kuwaiti workforce, at approximately 435,600 (compared to 450,200), accounting for 14.2 percent of the total. The total Kuwaiti workforce reached approximately 495,700 workers by the end of the first half of 2026, according to data from the Public Authority for Civil Information. Bangladesh ranks fourth, with a total of 303,000 (compared to 278,500), representing 9.9 percent of the total and approximately 11.5 percent of the total expatriate workforce. The Philippines ranks fifth, with a total workforce of approximately 196,200 (compared to 194,100), accounting for 6.4 percent of the total and 7.5 percent of the total expatriate workforce.
