Saudi’s largest property developer Dar Al Arkan confirms CEO resignation

Saudi property developer Dar Al Arkan has confirmed that its CEO has resigned.

In a brief statement, the company said that its board had approved the resignation of Abdulrehman Hamad Al-Harkan submitted on May 14. He will leave his post as CEO and executive board member on July 1. He has resigned for personal reasons, the statement added.

Al-Harkan served as the chief executive of the company for the last five years. No details were given regarding his replacement.

Established in 1994, Dar Al-Arkan is the largest listed real estate company in the Saudi stock market with a capital of SAR10.8bn and a total asset value close to SAR25bn.

However, the company recently reported a 79 per cent drop in Q1 net profit to reach SAR12.13m.

Total sales for the quarter also fell 17.09 per cent to SAR360.33m, compared to SAR434.61m in Q1 2016.

“The decrease in net income is mainly due to the lower property sale revenue,” the developer said in a statement.

“However the higher leasing revenues and the decrees in finance cost were positively impacted and contributed to the net income,” it added.

Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector has been hit hard by the oil price slump which has slowed the kingdom’s economy and led to strict austerity measures.

According to official data, residential property prices in the country fell by 9.5 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter.

The drop is steeper than the 7.3 per cent decline in prices registered in the fourth quarter of last year, the General Authority for Statistics’ Real Estate Price Index found.

Commercial property prices also decreased 11.7 per cent from a year earlier in the first quarter, it added.