JEDDAH, 4 September 2007 — The Saudi Arabian Cooperative Insurance Company (SAICO) yesterday made its Saudi stock market debut with a bang. Shares in SAICO, which became the 13th insurance company to be traded, jumped 997.50 percent on the first day of trading. The SR10 shares opened at SR109.75 and stayed in that level throughout the day.

Basil Al-Ghalayini, CEO of BMG Financial Group, said: “Although SAICO has been considered one of the first and well-established insurance companies operating in the Kingdom for decades coupled with a top brass management team, again, speculators, to make their quick gains, are still attacking the insurance sector irrespective of the track record of the underlying issuer”.

Al-Ghalayini added: “As we have witnessed with almost every insurance company’s offering, prices have jumped on the first day of listing followed by gradual systematic increases reaching unrealistic levels. This is obviously not a healthy sign for these companies nor for the whole sector since they are becoming speculative stocks at the mercy of hungry traders who are taking advantage of the small offerings of the high growth insurance sector.”

The insurance companies are in the limelight as Saudi Arabia’s newly liberalized insurance market is poised for major growth with estimates that a market currently worth around $1.5 billion annually could soar to $8 billion within 10 years.

The opening up of the health and general insurance sectors of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) is estimated to have initially injected about $700 million into the market with more to come through the raft of new company licensing and initial public offerings currently taking place, bringing feverish activity to the Saudi stock market.

The insurance sector, which was earlier dominated by the National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI), is expanding very fast with the arrival of new companies.

Out of 13 insurance companies, shares of five companies declined yesterday. The losers were Saudi Fransi Cooperative Insurance Company, SABB Takaful, Saudi Indian Company for Cooperative Insurance Company, Alahli Takaful Company and Allied Cooperative Insurance Group. Shares in the Malath Cooperative Insurance and Reinsurance Company soared 7.90 percent to SR157 and Arabian Shield Cooperative Insurance Company by 6.44 percent to SR70.25.

The Saudi stock market, however, recovered yesterday after falling 85.63 points on Sunday. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed above 8,000 points yesterday at 8,017.54, up 29.85 points.

The Banking Index was slightly higher at 21,150.91 yesterday despite a fall in share prices of Saudi Hollandi Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi and Arab National Bank. Riyad Bank shares gained 2.86 percent to SR63 and Al-Rajhi Bank by 0.29 percent to SR86.50 yesterday.

The Industrial Index was down 70.97 points at 18,965.81 as shares of companies such as Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), Saudi Arabia Refineries Co. (SARCO), Al-Babtain Power & Telecommunication Co. and Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company fell yesterday.

In the cement sector, the only loser yesterday was Eastern Cement. Its shares fell 0.32 percent to SR77.75 while shares of other companies increased yesterday.

Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) shares edged higher by 2.61 percent to SR68.75.

The agriculture sector was also in positive territory yesterday. The shares of the Saudi Fisheries Co. surged 9.91 percent to SR91.50, while Jazan Development Co. shares rose by 9.38 percent to SR26.25 and that of the Tabuk Agriculture by 6.60 percent to SR76.75.

The Almarai Company said in a statement, which was put on Tadawul website yesterday, that it paid last year’s dividend of SR2 per share on April 10 as approved by the Extraordinary General Assembly Meeting on March 27 to the shareholders registered on that day with the Saudi stock exchange. The dividend was paid directly into the individual shareholders investment fund bank accounts. The shareholders that have not received their dividend due to incorrect account details or for whatever reason, can obtain their dividend from any branch of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) in the Kingdom by producing their personal identity card. Almarai has requested the shareholders to update their investment fund bank account details with their respective banks in order to facilitate distribution of future dividends.

Almarai shares increased 0.56 percent to SR89.75 yesterday.

The stock market turnover reached SR10.33 billion yesterday as compared to SR9.23 billion on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry yesterday defended its decision on halting the general assembly meeting of Jabal Omar Development Company last week, saying it lacked the necessary quorum. “Only 17.01 percent of shareholders turned up to the meeting,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

Abdul Fattah Fida, director general of Jabal Omar, said his company was holding talks with the ministry in order to end the conflict by the end of this week. He denied plans to lodge a case against the ministry at the Court of Grievances.