An increase in returns from investments and dividends income helped Kingdom Holding to a 16.8 per cent rise in net profit during the second quarter of the year.
Kingdom Holding, which owns stakes in several international businesses including Citigroup, Four Seasons, Apple and Twitter, reported net earnings in the three months to June 30 of 211.6 million Saudi riyals (Dh207.2m), up from 181.2m riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website.
The rise was thanks to an “increase in gains on investments and dividends income, in addition to decrease in financial costs”, the company said in a statement without elaborating.
For the first six months of the year, the company reported net profit of 338m riyals, 16 per cent up higher on the same period last year.
It cited an increase in gain on investments and revenue from hotels, despite a rise in financial charges, for the stronger performance.
Led by the billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, Kingdom Holding expanded its private equity operations by signing a deal with Pinebridge Investments Middle East, the regional arm of the US asset manager, to invest jointly in private equity opportunities in Africa.
“The investment in this platform is a continuation of KHC’s [Kingdom Holding] successful investment strategy in Africa that began in 2003 and reflects our confidence in achieving long-term returns for investors in this venture,” Prince Al Waleed said at the time.
Kingdom is also building the world’s tallest tower in Jeddah through a venture called Jeddah Economic Company, in which it owns 33.35 per cent.
The company was in talks with Saudi banks to raise funds for the 14bn riyal first phase of Kingdom City, a mixed-use project which frames the more than one-kilometre tall tower.
tarnold@thenational.ae
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