Kingdom Holding, which for the third year in a row topped the list of major Saudi earners, is to build two massive real estate projects, one in Riyadh and the other in Jeddah. Kingdom Holding Chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told Arab News they will be “in size and magnitude as big and as important” as the new economic cities announced by the government. They will each cost billions of riyals, the prince said. An announcement is due “imminently,” he added.
Last year was another strong year for the company. Income from its global portfolio of investments was SR82 billion, up 16 percent on the SR70.5 billion earned in 2004. That is an impressive figure — more than the combined revenue of the bottom 80 companies on the Top 100 list. The extra SR11.5 billion earned last year would, if earned by one company, put it at eighth position on the Top 100.
Kingdom Holding has global investments in the banking, telecommunications, media, hotel, real estate and retail sectors. In Saudi Arabia, it has holdings in several prominent companies including Samba, Savola, Herfy, Azizia Panda, Marai and the National Industrialization Company (NIC), all of which are in continuous expansion. NIC enjoyed a massive 85 percent growth last year, Samba 45 percent and Savola 22 percent. The company’s new hotel subsidiary, Dubai-headquartered Kingdom Hotel Investments, responsible for 18 hotels worldwide with another 12 in the pipeline, has put on major growth this year. Earnings to the end of September are up 71 percent on the same period last year and profits up 36 percent.
Kingdom Holding has been involved in two mega hotel takeovers this year, Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in the spring and, most recently, in alliance with Microsoft’s Bill Gates, the Four Seasons chain, also based in Toronto.
