QInvest has reported strong growth across the board, ending the first half of 2015 with revenues up 40% and net profit increasing 86% compared to the same period in 2014.
Revenue for the first six months of 2015 increased 40% to QR195.6mn ($53.7mn), compared to the QR139mn ($38.3mn) recorded in 2014. Net profit for the same period saw an 86% growth to QR88.7mn ($24.4mn) from QR47.6mn ($13mn) in 2014.
“Despite these strong results, QInvest continues to monitor its investments carefully, given the challenges that markets still represent going forward,” said QInvest CEO Tamim Hamad al-Kawari.
He added, “During the first half of 2015, we generated strong performance, despite the on-going volatility across global markets. Profits generated in the past six months alone exceeded those in the year 2014.
“We continued to source new opportunities, strengthen our brand, and deliver positive returns. We also remained absolutely focused on executing our exciting pipeline of deal flow, taking advantage of our unique market position to leverage opportunities, and deliver value for clients and shareholders alike.”
During the same period, all three of QInvest’s revenue-generating business lines - investment banking, principal investments, and asset management - continued to cultivate new business and develop existing relationships, al-Kawari noted.
In the investment banking division, the structured finance business closed nine transactions deploying QR946.8mn ($260mn), of which QR182mn ($50mn) was syndicated.
Al-Kawari said QInvest has continued to actively work on mandates for both sovereign and corporate entities, which the team expects to execute in the second half of the year. Moreover, the mergers and acquisitions team remained active, most notably benefiting from international transaction flows.
During the first half of 2015, al-Kawari said the principal investments unit secured and invested in a yielding equity opportunity in the German retail market, yielding assets leased to national government agencies and a hospitality value-added opportunity, as well as additional mezzanine debt transactions, all in the US.
Additionally, the team continues to pursue residential development opportunities in London on a co-investment basis. Following exits in 2014, the historical portfolio of non-real estate principal investments has been reduced significantly, and this trend continues, he said.
In the first half of the year, QInvest made a select number of new equity investments; in aggregate deploying QR182mn ($50mn) in three transactions. The transactions took the form of both direct co-investments and fund investments; in all cases the investments were made alongside leading investment groups.
“Within the asset management division, our clients continue to benefit from the impressive performance and returns, which we have generated across our portfolios,” al-Kawari said.
He added that QMAP, QInvest’s pioneering open architecture Shariah-compliant fund platform, now includes an additional regional equity fund, the Qatar Equity Fund. Launched in the last quarter, the fund uses the “highly-successful” local equity strategy, which has annualised returns of above 22% since its launch in 2013, and is significantly ahead of the benchmark and its peers. While previously only offered as a segregated account, the new fund provides access to a broader number of eligible investors, al-Kawari added.