Saudi Stock Market Companies Touch $613 Billion in Revenues

Saudi Stock (Tadawul) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Stock (Tadawul) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Stock Market Companies Touch $613 Billion in Revenues

Saudi Stock (Tadawul) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Stock (Tadawul) (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi companies listed on the stock market recorded a 56.3 percent increase in their business, reaching total revenue of $613.3 billion.

Al-Jazira Capital reported that the Saudi companies on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) recorded $613.3 billion in revenues, compared to $392 billion in 2020, while the listed Saudi companies recorded a 57.7 percent increase in total revenues during the fourth quarter of 2021.

Listed Saudi companies recorded $176 billion in revenues during the fourth quarter of last year, compared to $111.4 billion in 2020.

Saudi companies listed on Tadawul increased their revenues by nine percent during the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to their gains in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the National Agricultural Development Co (NADEC), one of the largest dairy and food companies in the Kingdom, received a letter from the PIF-owned Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment (SALIC) to acquire 12.66 million shares, representing 12.46 percent of NADEC’s total outstanding shares.

SALIC looks forward to supplying larger quantities of essential foreign commodities and increasing the operational efficiency of existing investments.

The company also wants to develop relations with leading international companies in grain and food processing and expand its local and global investments following its strategy.

SALIC will include new agricultural technologies to rationalize water use, raise production efficiency, and preserve the environment.

Earlier, the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company announcing that it has acquired 35.43 percent of Olam Agri Holdings for $1.24 billion, provided that the transaction is expected to be completed in 2022 after obtaining the required approvals from the relevant international authorities.

SALIC CEO Sulaiman al-Rumaih said that the deal will develop and support SALIC’s mission as PIF’s investment arm in the food and agriculture sector.”

Rumaih added that SALIC has extensive experience in the food and agriculture sector, which contributes to food security in the Kingdom, and the partnership with Olam will enrich its role in delivering food security.

He explained that Olam Agri’s commercial success, expertise, and scale in critical commodity sourcing and processing would add significantly to SALIC’s international portfolio.

The CEO also pointed out that SALIC will continue integrating both existing and future investments.

The main Saudi stock index closed up 162.89 points, at 13,646.12 points, with transactions worth $3.1 billion.

The volume of traded shares reached 240 million shares, divided by more than 470,000 deals, in which the shares of 77 companies recorded an increase in their value, while the shares of 129 companies closed lower.

The Saudi Parallel Shares Index (Nomu) closed up 221.52 points, at 24,268.83 points, with transactions worth $6.9 million, and the volume of traded shares reached more than 200,000 shares divided by 1,532 deals.



Türkiye's Central Bank Lowers Key Interest Rate to 47.5%

A girl sells plastic items to people in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul, Türkiye, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A girl sells plastic items to people in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul, Türkiye, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Türkiye's Central Bank Lowers Key Interest Rate to 47.5%

A girl sells plastic items to people in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul, Türkiye, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A girl sells plastic items to people in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul, Türkiye, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Türkiye’s central bank lowered its key interest rate by 2.5 percentage points to 47.5% on Thursday, carrying out its first rate cut in nearly two years as it tries to control soaring inflation.
Citing slowing inflation, the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said it was reducing its one-week repo rate to 47.5% from the current 50%.
The committee said in a statement that the overall inflation trend was “flat” in November and that indicators suggest it is likely to decline in December, The Associated Press reported.

Demand within the country was slowing, helping to reduce inflation, it said.
Inflation in Türkiye surged in recent years due to declining foreign reserves and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unconventional economic policy of lowering rates as a way to tame inflation — which he later abandoned.
Inflation stood at 47% in November, after having peaked at 85% in late 2022, although independent economists say the real rate is much higher than the official figures.

Most economists argue that higher interest rates help control inflation, but the Turkish leader had fired central bank governors for failing to fall in line with his previous rate-cutting policies.

Following a return to more conventional policies under a new economic team, the central bank raised interest rates from 8.5% to 50% between May 2023 and March 2024. The bank had kept rates steady at 50% until Thursday's rate cut.
The high inflation has left many households struggling to afford basic goods, such as food and housing.