48 listed firms suffer 13.6bn Saudi ryial in losses

Forty-eight listed companies have registered losses worth SR13.6 billion by the end of last September (Q3-2013) which represented 18 percent of their capitals, a financial report said. For comparative reasons, some 44 listed companies sustained losses of SR11.3 billion by the end of Q3 in 2012 which represented 15 percent of their capitals, the report, filed by Al-Eqtisadiah daily, said. The accumulated losses have fully eroded or surpassed capitals of three listed companies by the end of Q3: Mohammad Al-Mojil Group (MMG), Bisha Agriculture Development Co. (BADC) and Al-Baha Investment & Development Co. (BIDC), the report said. The value of accumulated losses of MMG reached SR2.34 billion by the end of Q3 whereas its capital stands at SR1.25 billion, which means the group’s losses have surpassed its capital by 87 percent, the report said. Meanwhile, the accumulated losses of BADC reached SR62.8 million in Q3 which represented 126 percent of its capital of SR50 million. Shares of the company were suspended from trading at Tadawul (Saudi stock exchange) in December 2007 when its losses surpassed capital by 75 percent. The accumulated losses of BIDC hit SR175.5 million in Q3, or 117 percent of its capital (SR150 million). Its shares were suspended from trading in April 2013 on its request and by the end of Q1, its losses represented 68 percent of its capital, the report said. In a related development, the number of companies whose accumulated losses surpassed their capitals by 50-60 percent reached 9 firms of which 7 fall within the insurance sector. For example, losses of the Saudi Indian Company for Cooperative Insurance (Wafa Insurance) were the biggest at SR 66.3 million, or 66 percent of its capital of SR100 million, followed by Arabia Insurance Cooperative Co. (Arabia Insurance) at SR123.4 million losses (or 62 percent of capital of SR200 million), Sanad Insurance at SR119.4 million losses (or 60 percent of its capital of SR200 million), the report said. The National Agriculture Marketing Co. (Thimar) was the fourth biggest company in terms of losses per capital in Q3 at SR56.7 million, or 57 percent of its capital of SR100 million, followed by Al-Ahlia for Cooperative Insurance Company (56 percent of its capital), the Allied Cooperative Insurance Group (ACIG) at SR103 million (52 percent of capital), Al-Rajhi Takaful at SR102.6 million (51 percent of its capital), Salama Cooperative Insurance Co. at SR 51.1 million (51 percent of its capital), and Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication Company at SR785.1 million (50 percent), according to the report. The companies falling within the insurance sector captured the lion’s share of the Q3 losses whose number stood at 25 out of 48 listed companies, followed by the agricultural sector (5 companies), petrochemicals and construction (4 for each), real estate (3), and telecom (2), the report said. Source: Arab News