Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the Saudi Arabian conglomerate owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Sunday its first-quarter profit rose by 12.7 per cent as gains from investments outweighed a drop in hotel operating income and increase in expenses.
Net income increased to 129.1 million Saudi riyals (Dh126.4m) in the first three months of the year compared with 114.5m riyals in the same period last year, the company said in a regulatory filing to the Saudi stock exchange. Gross revenue for the quarter advanced by 3.4 per cent to 661.9m riyals compared with 640.4m last year. The company did not give a breakdown of the profitability of its activities.
KHC’s hotel business was hurt last year by the referendum in the UK to leave the European Union. The company said in July that it would record 150m riyals less revenue from its share-swap deal with AccorHotels because of foreign currency fluctuations caused by Brexit.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in December 2015 agreed to exchange his stake in FRHI Holdings – the parent of brands including Fairmont and Raffles – for a 5.8 per cent stake in the French company as well as cash worth 1.27 billion riyals as well as other assets.
Despite that loss, Prince Alwaleed retains the No 1 slot of the richest Arab, with an estimated US$18.7bn, Forbes magazine said last month.
Prince Alwaleed owns 95 per cent of KHC, which is a vast global investor with shares in the Euro Disney theme park, Apple, News Corporation and the US bank Citigroup.
The company also owns luxury hotels including the George V in Paris.
The holding company sold the luxury Four Seasons hotel in Toronto for 225m Canadian dollars (Dh605.6m) in October last year. KHC said it made a profit of C$17m from the sale, which it bought in 2012 for C$200m.
mkassem@thenational.ae
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