Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding posts 13% Q2 profit rise

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding, the investment firm owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, posted a 12.6 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit on Sunday as its income increased and costs fell.

Kingdom has minority stakes in some of the world’s most high profile companies including Citigroup and Twitter.

Kingdom made a net profit of SAR 238.3m ($63.6m) in the three months to June 30, up from SAR 211.7m in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.

It attributed the profit rise to higher income from its associates and joint ventures and lower general and administrative expenses and finance charges.

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

The hotel unit of Kingdom sold its 50 per cent stake in Four Seasons Resort Mauritius to its joint-venture partner Sun Resorts, Kingdom said in June without disclosing the value of the deal.

That month a group of French companies led by a state-backed fund agreed to invest $150m in Kingdom, the first foreign direct investment in the company since Saudi Arabia opened up its bourse to foreign investors.