KIPCO 2004 third quarter profit leaps 50 per cent

The 2004 nine-month profit figure equals KIPCO's full year profit figure in 2003, its 12th year of unbroken profitability. It puts KIPCO well on course to meet its 2004 full year profit target of KD 25 million (US$ 85 million) and cash dividend of 18 per cent, or 18 fils (6.1 cents) per share, forecast by managing director and chief executive officer Faisal Al Ayyar at the landmark KIPCO Financial Forum in March this year.

Earnings per share (EPS) in the first nine months of 2004 also leaped 50 per cent to
18 fils (6.1) cents, compared to 12 fils (4 cents) in the same period last year. Revenues for the 2004 nine months were KD 52 million (US$ 176 million), an increase of 27 per cent from KD 41 million (US$ 140 million) in the first nine months of 2003.

KIPCO, with assets of US$ 10 billion under management or control and a portfolio of some 70 companies, has 10,000 employees throughout its operations and its shares are the most actively traded on the KSE.

KIPCO's core operating companies are United Gulf Bank (UGB), its investment banking subsidiary; Gulf Insurance Company (GIC), a regional leader in commercial and personal insurance; Burgan Bank, Kuwait's leading technology-driven commercial bank; Wataniya Telecom, the dynamic and fast-growing regional mobile telephone services provider; and Showtime, the hugely-popular digital pay-TV service spanning the Middle East and North Africa.