RIYADH, 26 October 2003 — Saudi Telecommunications Co. (STC) said yesterday net profit in the first nine months of this year more than doubled to SR6.55 billion ($1.8 billion) from SR2.86 billion in the same period of 2002.
Its shares were trading up 1.6 percent at SR409.50 on the Saudi bourse on Saturday compared with a year high of SR431.75 last month and a year low of SR190.00 in February.
Partly privatized STC is the largest firm on the Saudi bourse with a capitalization of 120.9 billion as of Oct. 23.
The firm said in a statement posted on the bourse website that operating income in the first nine months of 2003 rose to SR20.05 billion from SR17.49 billion a year earlier.
It said third-quarter net profit rose 54 percent to SR2.39 billion from a year ago. Operating income in the third quarter of 2003 was 13 percent higher at SR7.05 billion from the same period last year.
The government floated 30 percent of STC last December to Saudi and other Gulf Arab investors and to two Saudi state funds for SR15.3 billion. The firm dominates the Saudi bourse.
STC, which made a 2002 net profit of SR3.55 billion, has emerged as a showcase for the state’s plan to privatize public entities after making them into corporations to help meet growing demand for services while cutting expenditure.
Saudi Arabia has the biggest telecommunications market in the Gulf region with five million cell phone subscribers all belonging to STC. The government has said it plans to award cell phone licenses next year to end STC’s monopoly.
The Kingdom’s telecoms sector has been growing by some 30 percent a year.
