DUBAI: Most major stock markets in the Gulf rose on Thursday with Saudi Arabia’s index gaining strength from positive company-specific news, while shares of one of Egypt’s property developers dropped as its quarterly earnings missed estimates.
The Riyadh index added 0.7 percent as shares in all 12 listed banks rose, with Alawwal Bank adding 2.4 percent.
Atheeb Telecommunications climbed 2.5 percent to SR8.21 in its highest traded volume since June 2016 after it swung to a quarterly net profit of SR55.4 million ($14.8 million) from a loss of SR58.1 million a year ago.
But it closed well off its intra-day high of SR8.78. While some of the profit gain was due to higher revenues, most was due to the sale of communications towers, the company said.
Medical equipment seller and hospital operator Al Hammadi Co. for Development rose 1.6 percent to SR35.80 after reporting net income of SR25.7 million, up 24.8 percent from a year ago. NCB Capital had predicted SR26.7 million.
“Although the opening of Al Nuzha hospital is a key catalyst, we believe it is already priced in. The stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 19.5 times versus its Saudi peer group average of 19.3 times,” NCB Capital said.
Saudi Steel Pipes gained 1.3 percent after one of its units won a SR250 million contract to manufacture pipes for oil giant Saudi Aramco.
Elsewhere, the Dubai index rose 0.3 percent with activity dominated by Union Properties, up 3.7 percent, and GFH Financial, up 2.8 percent.
In Egypt, shares of Sixth of October Development and Investment fell 1.1 percent to a four-month low after its second-quarter net income of 129.8 million Egyptian pounds ($7.3 million) missed analysts’ estimates.
Naeem Brokerage had forecast the company would make net income of 163 million pounds, but said the outlook for the second half of the year “seems positive” and maintained a “buy” rating on the stock. Egypt’s index fell 0.2 percent.
Major Gulf bourses end week on firm footing, Egypt slips
Major Gulf bourses end week on firm footing, Egypt slips
Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co.’s Q4 net profit rises 16.4% to $25.63m
RIYADH: Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co. reported a net profit of SR96.2 million ($25.63 million) in the fourth quarter of 2025, representing an increase of 16.4 percent compared to the previous three months.
For the full year 2025, the company’s net profit stood at SR395.6 million, marking a decline of 36.38 percent compared to 2024, according to a Tadawul statement.
The firm attributed the drop in annual net profit to a decrease in revenues from trading services and post-trade services, resulting from a 30.6 percent decline in average daily trading values.
Despite witnessing a drop in net profit for the whole year 2025, Group CEO of Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co., Khalid Abdullah Al-Hussan, expressed optimism and said that the financial results demonstrated the strength of the firm’s operating model and its ability to deliver balanced and sustainable growth, supported by continued progress in diversifying revenue streams and enhanced operational resilience.
“We continued executing our strategic priorities through the launch of a new product set, enhancing capital market infrastructure, and accelerating our data and technology capabilities to reinforce the Saudi capital market as a leading regional and global financial center,” said Al-Hussan.
Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co., through its Capital Market Authority-authorized subsidiaries, is the primary provider of securities trading, clearing, and settlement in the Kingdom.
The organization also provides technology innovation services through one of its subsidiaries.
As a foundational pillar of the Kingdom’s economy and the Financial Sector Development Program under the nation’s Vision 2030, the group is helping Saudi Arabia build a thriving economy with a technologically advanced and integrated capital market at its center.
The group’s total revenue for 2025 was SR1.26 billion, representing a 12.82 percent decline compared to the previous year.
The company achieved revenues amounting to SR638.7 million from the post-trade services sector, followed by the capital market at SR373.7 million, and the data and technology service segment at SR248.9 million.
Post-trade services were the company’s largest revenue driver at SR638.7 million, followed by the capital market segment at SR373.7 million and data and technology services at SR248.9 million.
The statement further said that total shareholders’ equity after minority interest amounted to SR3.44 billion as of Dec. 31, compared to SR3.49 billion in a year earlier period.
In a separate statement, the company said that its board of directors to distribute a cash dividend of 23 percent, or SR2.30 per share, for 2025.
