Mubasher: The net profit of Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Company (HEISCO) increased by 16.4% during the fiscal year (FY) ended in December 2019 to reach KWD 11.2 million from KWD 9.6 million in 2018.

The growth in last year’s profits is due to a drop in bad debts written off, according to a disclosure to Boursa Kuwait on Monday.

Over the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019, the company’s earnings registered KWD 3.1 million, up by 25.1% when compared to KWD 2.5 million in Q4-18.

Moreover, the board of directors has recommended a distribution of KWD 5.4 million or 30 fils per share as cash dividends for 2019, representing 30% of the share’s nominal value.

It is worth pinpointing that in the nine-month period ended 30 September 2019, HEISCO’s profits rose by 13.31% to KWD 8.05 million, compared with KWD 7.11 million in the same period last year.