Saudi Arabia’s Jabal Omar Shares Rise After Swing To Profit

Shares in Saudi Arabia’s largest listed real estate developer by market capitalisation, Jabal Omar Development, rose in an otherwise weak stock market on Thursday after it reported a quarterly profit for the first time since 2009.

The stock added 0.7 per cent while Saudi Arabia’s main stock index edged down 0.4 per cent.

Jabal Omar, which works on projects in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, said on Thursday it made a profit of SAR431.3 million ($115 million) in the fourth quarter of the Hijri calendar year which ended last month, compared with a loss of SAR17.6 million a year earlier.

The swing also made its full year profitable. Since 2009, the firm had only reported quarterly and yearly losses.