Bahrain wealth fund Mumtalakat’s 2018 profit falls 73.5%

Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat’s 2018 net profit tumbled 73.5 per cent, it said in a statement on Sunday. The fund which holds stakes in Bahraini companies including Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) and telecoms company Batelco made a net profit of $148.4m in 2018 compared to $560.1m in the previous year.

“Net profit in 2017 included fair value gain on de-recognition of associates of $667m while a higher cost of raw materials in 2018 led to a fall in Alba’s profits,” the statement said, without giving further details.

Mumtalakat’s revenue totalled $5.5bn in 2018, up 38 per cent over the previous year due to the full year impact of the consolidation of McLaren and higher sales at Alba, it said.

Total assets of the state investor grew to $16.8bn in 2018 from $15.4bn in 2017.

The state fund has over 60 companies in its portfolio and committed $181m in 2018 to local and international investments, the statement said, adding that capital expenditure in key local companies totalled $1.7bn in 2018, up 9 per cent over 2017.