Vote for song
Merge 104.8 | 09 June 2020
Forbes Magazine has ranked four Omani firms among it’s most powerful 100 companies in the Middle East for the year 2020.
As Oman News Agency (ONA) reports, the four firms are Bank Muscat, Omantel, the Oman International Development and Investment Company (Ominvest), and the National Bank of Oman.
As per ONA, according to Forbes, the profits of Bank Muscat in 2019 amounted to about OMR 185.6 million, which is equivalent to US $482 million, and the value of its assets is about OMR 12.3 billion, which is equivalent to US $31.9 billion. The profits of the National Bank of Oman reached OMR 51.35 million, equivalent to US $133.5 million, while its assets amounted to OMR 3.65 billion, equivalent to US $9.5 billion.
The profits of the Oman Telecommunications Company ‘Omantel’ in 2019 amounted to about OMR 299.6 million, which is equivalent to US $779 million, and the value of its assets is OMR 7.6 billion, equivalent to US $19.8 billion. The profits of the Oman International Development Company ‘Ominvest’ amounted to OMR 49.6 million, which is equivalent to US $128.96 million, and the value of its assets is OMR 3 billion, equivalent to US $7.8 billion.
Forbes said that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the market values of public companies in the Middle East over the first three months of this year, as their market values fell sharply like the global financial markets, which were plunged by the pandemic.
The publication emphasized: “Though the effects of the crisis are not seen on the results of the companies’ business in the first quarter of this year, the entry and topping of Saudi Aramco on the list of the most powerful 100 companies in the Middle East led to a breakthrough in the combined values of the list, as the companies’ consolidated sales jumped to US $670 billion, and recorded net profits of US $148 billion, US $3.5 trillion for assets, and US $2.3 trillion for market value.”
Forbes explained that the list also included the largest 100 public companies, of which the most profitable are traded in the financial markets in the region.
The banking and financial institutions sector came at the top of the sectors represented in the list by 46 financial institutions, followed by the industrial sector with nine companies. The real estate/construction and communications sectors ranked third with eight companies each.
Source: ONA
(Also read: OMR 38 million in tenders awarded to SMEs in Oman last year.)
