Kingdom Holding, controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, said second-quarter profit rose 21 per cent as income from investments and dividends increased. Net income climbed to 163.5 million Saudi riyals (Dh160 million) from 135.4 million riyals a year earlier, the Riyadh-based company said yesterday. Six-month earnings rose to 0.07 riyal a share from 0.06 riyal in the year- earlier period. Income from operations advanced 4.7 per cent to 183.5 million riyals. Kingdom Holding "is poised to capitalise on financial and strategic opportunities as they come up," CEO Shadi Sanbar said in a statement.

Bank Dhofar

Bank Dhofar of Oman posted a first-half loss after it set aside money to comply with a court order. The loss was 4.56 million Omani riyals (Dh43.3 million) after a profit of 17.74 million riyals a year earlier, the bank said in a statementyesterday. The lender set aside 26.1 million riyals to cover a legal case. "Although we have booked this loss in compliance with the relevant accounting standards, the bank challenges the premise of this legal case and is exercising all legal actions to reclaim the amount," it said in the statement. Bank Dhofar said on June 27 that the Enforcement Court directed it to transfer 26.1 million riyals to the court's account. The court order followed a lawsuit filed by Oman International Bank against Bank Dhofar and others, it said.

Rabigh Refining

Rabigh Refining and Petrochemicals slumped to a second-quarter loss of 402.3 million Saudi riyals from a 121.8 million-riyal profit in the year ago period. The loss was due to maintenance works at the refining and chemicals-making facility in Saudi Arabia this year, the company said in a stock exchange statement yesterday.

Thimar

National Agriculture Marketing, known as Thimar, said it filed a lawsuit against a former chief executive officer, a former financial manager, and an auditing firm over what it described as misleading financial results for 2010. The company announced the lawsuit on the website of the Saudi bourse yesterday.

Orascom Construction

Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's biggest publicly traded builder, said its board of directors has approved buying-back about 675,000 shares from until August 25. The Cairo-based company made the statement in a regulatory filing yesterday.

Turkiye Halk Bankasi

Turkiye Halk Bankasi will offer as much as $2 billion of bonds of various maturities in Turkey and abroad, according to a filing with the Istanbul Stock Exchange yesterday.

Zain Saudi Arabia

Zain Saudi Arabia said it entered into a non-binding termsheet accord with Kingdom Holding and Bahrain Telecommunications related to a 25 per cent stake sale. "The term sheet sets out certain key terms of the proposed acquisition including the due diligence exercise," the company said in a statement yesterday. It said further details will be announced later. Mobile Telecommunications signed an agreement in April with Bahrain Telecommunications and Kingdom Holding to sell its 25 per cent stake in Zain Saudi for $950 million (Dh3.4 billion). The due diligence process started in June and the transaction is expected to conclude by the end of September, Batelco CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos said.

Batelco

Bahrain Telecommunications, or Batelco said yesterday its first half net profit fell 17 per cent to 38.8 million Bahraini dinars (Dh374.5 million), compared with a year ago, as intense competition in its domestic market continued to erode revenues. According to Zawya Dow Jones calculations the telcom company made a second quarter net profit of21.3 million dinars, down 4.5 per cent from22.3 million dinars in the year ago period. Batelco's second-quarter net profit exceeded the 18.8 million dinars that analysts at Kuwait's Global Investment House had penciled in and also surpassed Bahrain-based Sico's estimate of 17 million dinars. Batelco shares closed down 0.5 per cent at 0.43 dinars on the Bahraini bourse.

— Compiled from staff and agency reports