WOMEN LEADING GLOBALLY LISTED COMPANIES GLOBAL COMPANIES THAT MINTED NEW BILLIONAIRES THE WORLD’S 10 LARGEST PUBLIC COMPANIES 2000 GCC COMPANIES DEBUTED ON STOCK EXCHANGES JUNE 2021 ISSUE 105 HATEM DOWIDAR Etisalat Group, Group CEO “YEARS OF INVESTMENT IN PREPARING THE NETWORK REALLY PAID OFF” THE MIDDLE EAST’S TOP 100 UAE ......................................................... AED 30 SAUDI ARABIA .....................................SAR 30 BAHRAIN ................................................BHD 3 KUWAIT ...............................................KWD 2.5 OMAN ...................................................... OMR 3 LISTED QATAR ....................................................QAR 30 OTHERS ...........................................................$8 JUNE 2021 ISSUE 105 COMPANIES THE REGION’S MOST VALUABLE BUSINESSES HAVE SEEN THEIR COMBINED MARKET VALUE JUMP TO $3 TRILLION. 80 FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 81 FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 8 I Sidelines Market Metrics By Claudine Coletti LEADERBOARDS 2 BILLIONAIRES 12 I 3 Companies That Minted New Billionaires In 2020 12 A record 493 individuals joined Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list this year, with some that particularly benefited from their company’s performance. Here are three companies that created new billionaires last year. Net CONTENTS worths are as of May 13, 2021. By Jamila Gandhi STOCK MARKETS 14 I 6 GCC Companies Debuted On Stock Exchanges In 2020 The global pandemic stalled Initial Public Offering (IPO) activity last year, with market volatility reaching its highest levels since the 2008 financial 24 crisis. But these six IPOs managed to make it despite the challenges. By Jamila Gandhi CEO 18 I Top 5 Women Leading Globally Listed Companies Spanning industries from healthcare to banking, here are the top five female CEOs leading publicly-listed companies on Forbes’ Global 2000 list 2021. They served a combined average of a decade working at their companies before being appointed to the C-suite. By Jamila Gandhi GLOBAL 2000 20 I Meet The World’s 10 Largest Public Companies In May, Forbes released its Global 2000 list for 2021, revealing the world’s largest and most valuable companies. By Layan Abo Shkier 24 I The World’s Largest Technology Companies In 2021: Apple’s Lead Widens As Coinbase, DoorDash Storm Into Ranks By Jonathan Ponciano 40 STOCK MARKETS 26 I Middle East-Based Companies Listed Standing Strong On Foreign Exchanges While facing significant challenges, Bassel Gamal, From lower volatility, exposure to more liquidity, to arguably better Qatar Islamic Bank’s Group CEO, has delivered visibility, multiple factors may tempt a company to list its business on a foreign exchange. Here are five regional companies that opted for an solid profits while reshaping the Sharia-compliant international Initial Public Offering (IPO). lender into a technology-driven player. By Jamila Gandhi By Samuel Wendel FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 3 FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 4 TOPIN THE100 MIDDLE EASTLISTED 2021 CONTENTS COMPANIES FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 5 FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 6X_1erVol_205x265_Forbes_uk.indd 1 01/04/2021 16:41 June 2021 Issue 105 6 • • COVER STORY INSIDE CONTENTS 34 Speeding Ahead Group CEO of Etisalat, Hatem Dowidar, has his work cut out as the 5G era begins. While the company reigns as one of the world’s fastest mobile networks, he’s plowing capital into digital investments. By Samuel Wendel FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 7 FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 SIDELINES 8 Market Metrics FORBES MIDDLE EAST FORBES Now that we’ve reached the time of year where listed companies have reported their financial statements for 2020/21, we can finally stop speculating on the impact of the global pandemic on the bottom line for these businesses and instead take a look for ourselves. As such, this month’s sidelines are a lot more math-heavy than usual—and I must give a shout-out to our research team, who actually did all the math. The results of a month’s worth of analysis show that overall, for the Middle East’s listed companies, it’s an unsurprisingly mixed bag, with profits and sales down from last year but market and asset value on the rise. When our research team started exploring the region’s markets in early May to analyse the Middle East’s listed companies, they looked across 11 stock exchanges in the Arab world and found 1,170 companies listed on them. Excluding double-listed companies, GDRs, and companies based outside the Middle East, there were 1,136 companies to consider. Our cut-off for this month’s ranking of the Top 100 Listed Companies In The Middle East was May 3, 2021, by which time 903 of those 1,136 companies had disclosed their audited 2020 financial statements. To help with comparison, last year there were 1,149 companies to consider, and 851 of them had disclosed their financial statements within the deadline for the annual list. Interestingly, when comparing the results of last year’s 851 eligible companies and this year’s 903, we found that aggregate net profits fell 40%, from $162.1 billion last year to $96.8 billion this year, even though this year’s cohort contained more companies. Aggregate sales also fell 14.1% to hit $701.9 billion, compared to $817.1 billion last year. That’s a pretty big sign of a very bad 12 months. However, market value metrics tell a different story. Comparing last year’s 1,149 listed companies with this year’s 1,136, we found that aggregate market value had gone up 31.4% from $2.6 trillion to $3.4 trillion. For the U.A.E. companies alone, aggregate market value went up by 73.2% from $194.4 billion last year to $336.6 billion. For Saudi companies, it went up by 27.7% from $2 trillion to $2. 6 trillion. This is a pretty good sign of a positive outlook. This time last year, we were still in the grip of COVID-19; now, we are very much hopeful that we on our way out of it. As countries and markets continue to recover throughout 2021 and into 2022, many reports suggest that global economies—including the Middle East’s—can look forward to a post-pandemic boom. Businesses and individuals everywhere will be hoping they’re right. —Claudine Coletti, Managing Editor FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 • DIGITAL CIRCULATION • 9 Every month Arabic & English 2.5M www.forbesmiddleeast.com 50,000 EDMs 10,000 Newsletter • SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS • Number of Followers as of May 27, 2021 725,595 221,759 58,619 ForbesME Forbes.ME forbesmiddleeast 64,478 8,447 1,571 Forbes Middle East Forbes Middle East @Forbesmenaeng @Forbesmena • DIGITAL STORES • FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM JUNE 2021 INNOVATING SINCE 2010 JUNE 2021 ISSUE 105 Dr. Nasser Bin Aqeel Al Tayyar President & Publisher 10 [email protected] Khuloud Al Omian Editor-in-Chief Forbes Middle East, CEO - Arab Publisher House [email protected] Claudine Coletti ManagingEditorial Editor [email protected] Ruth PulkuryBusiness Senior Vice PresidentDevelopment - Business Development Laurice Constantine Digital Managing Editor [email protected] [email protected] Fouzia Azzab Senior Arabic Editor [email protected] Joseph Chidiac [email protected] Jamila Gandhi Senior Reporter [email protected] Fiona Pereira [email protected] Samar Khouri Online Editor [email protected] Arif Abdul [email protected] FORBES MIDDLE EAST FORBES Amany Zaher Quality Editor [email protected] Ahmed Gohar [email protected] Cherry Aisne Trinidad Online Editor [email protected] Karl Noujaim [email protected] Nermeen Abbas Senior Reporter [email protected] Natalie Ghazaley [email protected] Juweyria Hersi Editorial and Marketing Executive [email protected] Elena Hayek [email protected] Sarine Nemchehirlian [email protected] Jason Lasrado Head ofResearch Research [email protected] Upeksha Udayangani Client Relations Executive [email protected] Ahmed Mabrouk Senior Researcher [email protected] Tayyab Riaz Mohammed Financial Controller [email protected] Soumer Al Daas Head of Creative [email protected] Julie Gemini Marquez Brand & Creative Content Executive [email protected] Sinnate Yafa Videographer [email protected] Kashif Baig Social Media Manager [email protected] Karthik Krishnan Event and Conference Manager [email protected] Mohammed Ashkar Assistant IT Manager [email protected] Muhammad Saim Aziz Web Developer [email protected] Habibullah Qadir Senior Operations Manager [email protected] Daniyal Baig Chief Operating Officer [email protected] FORBES US Chairman and Editor-In-Chief Steve Forbes CEO and President Michael Federle Copyright© 2019 Arab Publisher House Copyright @ 2019 Forbes IP (HK) Limited. 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