Doha – Mubasher: Gulf International Services reported Tuesday a decline of 76.63% in the second quarter’s net profits, according to a bourse filing.

The largest services group in Qatar earned QAR 81.7 million ($22.42 million), compared with QAR 349.7 million ($96 million) for the year-ago quarter.

In the first half, net profits fell 73% year-over-year to QAR 160.7 million from QAR 705.4 million.

Return on equity was QAR 0.86 lower during the sam period as well, compared with QAR 3.26 recorded in the first half of 2015.

“This year-on-year decrease was primarily driven by the challenges witnessed across all the segments due to the reduced level of activities and decline in contract rates”, the company said.

Moreover, revenues for the first half decreased to QAR 1.6 billion from QAR 2.3 billion in the first half of 2015.

This reduction was attributed to ongoing “ongoing downward rates revision” and weaker levels of activities all over the group’s segments thanks to the significant drop in the crude oil prices.

As a result, “the cost optimization program became a top priority among all group companies”, the company concluded