Boursa Kuwait profit falls 9.63% as traded value sinks 19%

Summary

• Boursa Kuwait net profit fell 9.63% to KD 20.83 million in nine months.
• Value traded dropped 19.17% to KD 15.64 billion, volume down 28.93%.
• Thinner liquidity squeezes the exchange operator's core fee-driven revenue base.

The latest

Boursa Kuwait Securities Company booked a net profit of KD 20.83 million attributable to parent shareholders for the first nine months of 2026, down 9.63% year on year, as activity on the market it operates thinned sharply. Total operating revenue slipped 3.12% to KD 35.90 million, according to a company statement reported by CNBC Arabia and Sarmad on Saturday 31 October.

Details

• The headline numbers: Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent reached KD 20.83 million for the nine months to end-September 2026, a 9.63% fall from a year earlier. Operating profit came in at about KD 25.76 million and earnings per share at 103.76 fils, according to the company statement.
• Revenue pressure: Total operating revenue declined 3.12% to KD 35.90 million. The drop in revenue was far shallower than the drop in market turnover, indicating that non-transaction income lines cushioned part of the hit from weaker trading.
• Trading collapse: Value of shares traded fell 19.17% to roughly KD 15.64 billion from KD 19.35 billion a year earlier. Traded volume dropped more steeply, down 28.93% to 59.86 billion shares, meaning the average price per share changing hands rose even as activity shrank.
• Daily averages: Average daily traded value fell to KD 86.42 million from KD 106.91 million, a decline of about KD 20 million a day. For an operator whose fees scale with turnover, that gap is the clearest measure of the revenue squeeze across the nine-month period.
• Balance sheet: Total group assets rose 1.48% to KD 134.94 million at end-September 2026, and equity attributable to parent shareholders edged up 0.62% to KD 74.60 million. The company did not disclose a breakdown of the asset growth.
• Market capitalisation: Total market capitalisation stood at KD 52.58 billion at end-September, of which KD 43.42 billion belonged to the Premier Market, up 0.60%. Valuations therefore held broadly steady while turnover fell, a divergence between price levels and liquidity.
• Market makers: Traded value incentivised by market makers, excluding real estate investment funds, rose 32.17% to KD 4.80 billion, according to the company. That growth ran against the broader downturn in activity and lifted the liquidity-provision segment's weight in overall turnover.
• Investor mix: Institutions accounted for 70.08% of total trading, up from 63.94% a year earlier, while international investors including GCC investors rose to 17.28% from 13.97%. The shift points to retail participation retreating faster than institutional flows.
• Management framing: Chairman Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi said the market showed resilience and adaptability in the face of geopolitical challenges. Chief Executive Mohammad Saud Al-Osaimi pointed to an MSCI institutional investor forum hosted in the third quarter as part of the exchange's outreach effort.
• Infrastructure work: Al-Osaimi also cited 2026 upgrades to the bond and sukuk trading platform and to the exchange-traded funds framework. The company did not attach a revenue contribution or completion timeline to either initiative.

Between the lines

The two sets of numbers pull in opposite directions. Turnover and volume fell by double digits while market capitalisation and the institutional and international shares of trading rose, suggesting the shrinkage was concentrated in faster-turning retail activity rather than a broad repricing. That mix leaves the operator with a steadier investor base but a smaller fee pool, which is why revenue fell less than turnover.

What's next

Full-year 2026 results will show whether the fourth quarter reversed the slide in daily traded value, and whether the market-maker programme and the new bond, sukuk and ETF frameworks begin feeding measurable turnover back into revenue.

Source: Boursa Kuwait Securities Company