Al-Babtain’s regional market share up to 30%, current projects worth SAR 2 bln: Chairman

The value of Al-Babtain Power & Telecommunication Co.’s (Al-Babtain) current projects in Saudi Arabia and overseas hit SAR 2 billion, Chairman Ibrahim Hamad Al Babtain told Argaam.

Al-Babtain's market share, with core activities, in the Kingdom and GCC markets ranges between 25% and 30%, he added.

As for Q1 2020 financial results, Al Babtain said that the profit decline on a year-on-year (YoY) basis was driven by lower profit margins, squeezed selling prices and fierce market competition, despite a slump in marketing, general and administrative expenses and higher sales volumes.

“The Q1 2019 financials included SAR 14.5 million in revenue from the writeback of credit provisions. Adjusting for the impact of these provisions, the Q1 2020 results would be the best,” he added.

Al-Babtain's profit dropped to SAR 14.2 million in Q1 2020, compared to SAR 19.8 million in year-earlier period, Argaam reported.

Al-Babtain did not allocate any provision to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather mapped out a number of scenarios for the potential fallout, he stressed.

Elsewhere, he said that the company is still in the process of finalizing the legal documents related to the letter of intent (LoI) inked between its Egypt-based unit, Al Babtain Power and Telecommunication Egypt, and the Saudi Egyptian Industrial Investment Co. (SEII).

In December 2019, Al Babtain said that its subsidiary in Egypt signed a LoI to sell a stake to SEII through capital hike, according to data compiled by Argaam.