Saudi’s Kingdom Holding Q2 net profit rises 16.8 pct

Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding, the investment firm owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, reported a 16.8 per cent increase in second-quarter net profit on Monday, citing higher income from investments.

The investment firm has minority stakes in some of the world’s top companies. Aside from being one of the largest shareholders in Citigroup, it owns stakes in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and microblogging site Twitter.

Net earnings in the three months to June 30 were SR211.6 million (Dh207.2 million), compared to SR181.2 million in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.

It attributed the rise to an “increase in gains on investments and dividends income in addition to a decrease in financial costs”.

Kingdom’s statement did not elaborate. Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in each reporting period before publishing more detailed results later.