Total assets of ‘Top 100’ Saudi firms rise 35% to SR 3.1 trillion

Total assets of ‘Top 100’ Saudi companies rose by 35 percent from SR 2.29 trillion in 2009 to SR 3.1 trillion in 2013, Al-Eqtisadiah business daily reported yesterday in its annual supplement on Top 100 Saudi companies.
The report showed the turnover of companies rising by 40 percent from SR 484 billion in 2009 to SR 676 billion.
Rights of shareholders grew by 22 percent during the same period from SR 664 billion to SR 809 billion while net profits rose from SR 61 billion to SR 107 billion, registering 75 percent rise during the past five years.
The supplement indicated improving performance of the listed companies as their profits grew continuously until 2012 to decline slightly in 2013. Return from the rights and investments of shareholders also increased, reflecting the strength and efficiency of the Saudi economy.
Petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) held the top position in the prestigious list with National Commercial Bank and Saudi Electricity Company holding the second and third positions.
Al-Rajhi Bank, Saudi Telecom Co., Samba Financial Group, Riyad Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Saudi British Bank and Arab National Bank grabbed their positions among the first top 10 companies.
Petrochemical companies performed well in the list, followed by cement firms and banks.
Transport, hotel, energy and media companies had low representation.
Saudi Research & Marketing Group improved its position from 77 in 2012 to 62 in 2013.
Yaseen Al-Jafry, a Saudi economist, emphasized the importance of the annual supplement on Top 100 Saudi companies, saying it gives an idea about the performance major companies, which naturally reflects the strength of the national economy.
He, however, pointed out that some well-known companies had opted to remain out of the informative list for reasons known to them.
He expected the list’s structure would change in the future with more family businesses intending to become holding companies.
SABIC and Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) have maintained their top positions in the list for the last five years, reflecting their strength and good performance.
Kingdom Holding Company, which holds 13th position on the list, is up from last year’s 14th position.
Established about 35 years ago, SABIC has grown steadily to become one of the world’s top 100 companies.
The company has more than 40,000 employees and operations in over 40 countries around the world.
SABIC’s annual turnover reached SR 191.33 billion and total assets SR 338.43 billion, and net profit SR 24.78 billion in 2012. It is the market leader in producing mono-ethylene glycol, MTBE, polycarbonate, polyphenylene, polyetherimide and granular urea.
It has 60 world-class plants, 12 Technology & Innovation Centers in Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States, South Korea and India, with two centers under construction in China and India. It manufactures 150 new products each year and holds a portfolio of 8,000 global patents.
SEC plays an important role in the Kingdom’s development by meeting its energy requirements.
The total generating capacity of the company and other producers has increased from 24,000 MW in 2000 to nearly 54,000 MW.
It was successful in linking 98 percent of the Kingdom’s regions with an electricity network.
The number of electricity subscribers has increased from 3.5 million in 2000 to nearly seven seven million.
The demand for electricity is growing at the rate of nine percent annually as a result of a rise in population, and industrial and business activities.