Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” announced a net profit of KWD 4.02 million for the financial year of 2014, compared to KWD 6.23 million in 2013.

Markaz’s total assets under management (AUM) totaled KWD 1.089 billion, excluding national real estate portfolio, recording an increase of 11.7% compared to the AUM during the same period of the previous year.

Meanwhile, Markaz Board of Directors recommended a cash dividend of 6% of share par value or 6 Fils per share to shareholders.

“Although Markaz posted positive returns in 2014, the performance of GCC stock markets adversely affected the growth of our profit.  Our diversification policy mitigated the volatility of the markets during the year and Markaz products continued to perform with positive returns,” said Markaz Chairman Diraar Alghanim.

“The decline in net earnings compared with last year came during Q4 because of the decline in values in all the regional capital markets, which was triggered by the sharp drop in oil prices,” added CEO of Markaz Manaf Alhajri.

Noteworthy, in December 2014, the international rating agency Capital Intelligence affirmed the rating of Markaz debenture bond at ‘BBB’. The agency classified the outlook on the rating as ‘Stable’.