Saudi’s Kingdom Holding Q1 Net Profit Up 15% On Investment Income

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding , the investment firm owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, reported a 14.8 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit on Sunday, citing higher income from investments.

The investment firm has minority stakes in some of the world’s top companies. Aside from being one of the largest shareholders in Citigroup, it owns stakes in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and microblogging site Twitter .

Net earnings in the three months to March 31 were SAR126.4 million ($33.7 million), compared to SAR110.1 million in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.

It attributed the rise in net profits to an “increase in gain on investments despite the decrease in dividends income and increase in loss from associate and finance charges.”

Kingdom’s statement did not elaborate further. Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing more detailed results later.