Welcome to Al Mal Capital Q3 2019 MENA HOUSEVIEWS.

Middle East and North Africa equities posted decent returns in the first half of the year although they lagged U.S and Emerging markets equities. In the first section of this quarterly publication, we look at H1 & Q2 2019 from the rearview.

As mentioned in our 2019 outlook published in early January, we believe there are still some secular and cyclical reasons to be positive on MENA equity going forward. In a dedicated section, we share our main investment themes and stock convictions for the months to come.

The last section of this quarterly MENA equity outlook includes our macro and fundamental views on the main regions.

Our flagship Al Mal MENA equity fund is off to a very reasonable start this year with a year-to-date gain of 7.5 percent as of the end of June. The fund is up 30 percent (net of fees) since January 2017, outperforming most of the main asset classes. This demonstrates that an unconstrained and disciplined strategy focusing on alpha opportunities can generate strong returns even in volatile market conditions.

Another very positive development on our side is the launch of the UCITS Luxembourg fund co-branded with Azimut, one of the leading European asset managers. Al Mal Capital is the sub-adviser on this fund which replicates our highly successful Middle East equities strategy.

While our forecasts and views are always subject to changes, our commitment to serving our clients is not.

We remain at your full disposal for any specific issues you would like to discuss, so please do not hesitate to contact us.