JEDDAH, 14 April 2006 — Local businessmen and investors were present in large numbers at a presentation on Saudi Research & Marketing Group’s (SRMG) initial public offering (IPO) given by SRMG Chairman Prince Faisal Bin Salman at the Jeddah Hilton on Wednesday night.

“Our promise to shareholders” was the theme of the presentation in which Prince Faisal elaborated the salient features of the IPO, which is already oversubscribed.

Accompanying him were Azzam M. Al- Dakhil, executive vice president of SRMG and managing director of Saudi Research & Publishing Company; Ameen Ghoraib, SRMG’s chief finance officer; Hasan Al- Saadawi, general manager of Al-Khaleejiah Advertising & Public Relations; and Muhammad Al-Rowaitie, chief marketing officer of SRMG.

“Think global in business” was the theme of the presentation on the SRMG IPO that was issued on April 8 and has since been oversubscribed. On Wednesday, investors continued to queue up at the branches of five banks across the Kingdom to subscribe for the IPO. Since women showed interest in the IPO, some branches opened special sections for them.

Prince Faisal, who answered a number of questions from investors and businessmen, explained the group’s promise to its shareholders. “The group is committed to maintain a high degree of transparency in all management decisions, adopt best corporate governance practices, continue to pursue well thought-out growth strategy and maximize value for the shareholders,” he added.

Prince Faisal said the group had plans to invest in profitable projects not only across the Kingdom but also in potentially promising destinations worldwide.

“Our group’s financial results show a steady growth within the company’s overall operations and also assures a stable growth in future,” the prince said.

The group has followed a sustained policy to do away with loss making ventures and emphasized on reorganization of existing products so that they improve in quality and financial performance.

It is in this context that the group has also been making new acquisitions, one of the recent ones being Hala Press in Riyadh.

“We’ve been of late concentrating on penetrating our products into Dubai and the rest of the Gulf,” Prince Faisal said, in an apparent reference to Arab News launching its publication in Dubai from April 1.

Prince Faisal emphasized that the group’s basic products are newspapers and magazines that have made rapid strides over the years.

“Our print media products have followed two courses. One, to update them technologically and also taking into account the needs and lifestyles of readers and, two, create a research-oriented exercise to bring about qualitative and quantitative improvements in them,” he added “Development of new products and highlighting new areas and demographic lifestyles are among the key features of our operations in the print media,” Prince Faisal said, adding that the group is also committed to add further value to the group’s existing products and develop new economically and financially viable products. “SRMG is a group that believes in diversity of its printmedia products, which are not only in Arabic but also in English and other languages catering to expatriate needs,” he said.

Furthermore, the group also believes in its strategy of diversification, he said and referred to the group’s Arab Media Company. “If feasible, we’ll invest in visual media like TV channels,” the prince said and reviewed the company from its inception to its current status.

Ghuraib emphasized that the company enjoyed strong liquidity and its earningsper- share had been on the rise. He assured shareholders that their investment in the IPO would yield them positive results.

Al-Dakhil gave an overview of the strategies of the Group and its companies including Saudi Research & Publishing Company and listed the ventures that the group acquired and the loss-making ones that it got rid off.

Saadawi said the group took pride in the fact that one out of two Saudi publications belonged to it.

“Our publications enjoy a wide spectrum of readership across all demographic sectors and thus enjoy a strong position in terms of advertising revenue,” he added.

He noted that in the overall Arab world scenario, the ad spend was “a lot less” compared with other strategic regions including Asia, Europe and North America.

Al-Rowaitie said in reply to a question that the group was investing in researches to update the group’s products.

“Updating the products taking into account the changing lifestyles and thinking patterns of our readers and also their likes and dislikes is an ongoing exercise.

This is coupled with exploring new areas of opportunity for both existing and new products,” he added.

The IPO was oversubscribed by 132 percent within three days of its launch on April 8. A large number of Saudis continued to line up at the branches of five banks across the Kingdom to purchase shares for SR46 each with a total value of SR1.104 billion in the IPO. Some 24 million shares have been floated for public subscription.

There is a lot of enthusiasm on the part of investors because of SRMG’s excellent track record. SRMG posted a record net profit of SR181.4 million last year, which was the best in the company’s history.

There was a 12-percent increase, or SR113.6 million in sales, compared to 2004 when total sales were SR1.06 billion.

SRMG announced recently that its firstquarter net profit this year grew by 120 percent to SR61.1 million compared to the same period last year when the figure was SR27.8 million. “The results have also shown a 15 percent growth rate in sales in the first quarter compared to the same period last year,” it added.

More than 582,000 subscribers invested SR1.46 billion in SRMG shares by the end of the third day, according to Eissa Al-Eissa, managing director and chief executive of Samba. IPO subscriptions will continue up to April 17.