Riyadh: Improved returns from investments and revenue from hotels led Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal's Kingdom Holding to report a 50 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit.
Kingdom, 95 per cent owned by the nephew of King Abdullah, made a net profit of 75.2 million riyals (Dh73.46 million) in the three months to end-March against 50.2 million riyals a year-earlier, it said in a statement.
"Subsidiaries and investments performed well with resilient revenue growth delivered across our hotels and real estate investments as well as a recovery in our investment portfolio," Prince Alwaleed said in an emailed statement.
Kingdom Holding, an investment company that has minority stakes in some of the world's top companies, is a main shareholder in Citigroup, which on Monday reported its best quarterly results since 2007.
After Citi's earnings announcement, Kingdom shares closed almost limit up yesterday to 10.15 riyals before the Saudi firm announced its first-quarter earnings.
Earnings per share stood at 0.02 riyal versus 0.01 riyal by end-March 2009, Kingdom said.
Earlier this year it cut its capital by 41 per cent, a move analysts said aimed at wiping out accumulated and unrealised losses which reached 65 per cent of its capital at the end of the third quarter of 2009.
Losses of more than 75 per cent of the capital would require a suspension in its stock.
Kingdom Holding is the largest company in Saudi Arabia and is headquartered in the city of Riyadh. The company is publicly listed in the Saudi Stock Exchange but only 6 per cent of the shares are public, the rest is privately owned with the majority stakeholder, Prince Al Waleed, who is the richest individual in the Middle East, according to Forbes current billionaire list.
The company describes itself as a diversified investment company, whose interests include banking, real estate, telecommunications, broadcasting and media, entertainment, hospitality, computers and electronics, agriculture, restaurants, upscale fashion, retailing, supermarkets, tourism, travel and automotive manufacturing.
