Leisure & Hospitality

Kingdom Holding plans $267m dividend despite profit drop

By Pramod Kumar

March 27, 2024, 5:43 AM

Net profit dropped to SAR1.01 billion last year, compared with SAR6.95 billion a year ago

Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) plans to distribute a dividend of more than SAR1 billion ($267 million) for 2023 despite profits falling by 85 percent.

The board of the investment company, founded by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, proposed a 2.8 percent cash dividend, totalling SAR1.03 billion, for 2023, subject to shareholders approval.

Net profit dropped to SAR1 billion ($270 million) last year, compared with just under SAR7 billion a year ago.

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The decline was attributed to a one-off gain in the sale of half of its stake in Four Seasons Holdings in 2022, but no such gain was recognised in the current year, the company said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange.

KHC reported increased financial charges and operating costs in the hotel and other sectors, in addition to a decline in dividend income.

Revenue climbed 8.5 percent year on year to SAR2.7 billion, driven by a rise in hotels and other operating revenues.

Earnings per share fell to SAR0.27 in 2023 from SAR1.88 in 2022.

In November 2023, the company increased its investment in Citigroup after buying a $450 million stake from Prince Alwaleed.

The deal raised Kingdom’s stake to 2.2 percent from 1.63 percent.

The company signed a SAR2 billion joint venture in October 2023 with Red Sea Global to develop and own a Four Seasons resort at the Red Sea giga-project.

In 2022, the prince sold a 17 percent stake in KHC to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund.