Riyadh: Dar Al Arkan, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest property developers, reported a 26.3 per cent fall in fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday, missing analyst forecasts on lower income from financial instruments.
Arkan made a net profit of 115.6 million riyals (Dh113 million, $30.8 million) in the three months to December 31, down from 156.8 million in the same period a year earlier, it said in a statement.
The company attributed the fall in net profit to lower non-operating income from a swap arrangement, for which it had booked profits in the corresponding year-earlier period, plus higher operating expenses and finance charges.
Clarifying the position of the swap arrangement in a statement to Reuters, Chief Financial Officer Mika Toivola said the fall in income stemmed from the fact no swap was in place in the last quarter, having been cancelled in 2013.
Analysts polled by Reuters on average forecast Dar Al Arkan would make a quarterly net profit of 139.8 million riyals.
The company’s 2014 annual profit was 574.7 million riyals.
This compares with a net profit of 681.5 million riyals in 2013.
In October, Chairman Yousuf Al Shelash said his company planned to spend more than 1 billion riyals on projects in 2015 and aimed for 10 per cent growth of its business that year.
