10 things to consider as Tadawul starts trading

Here are a few things you need to know as Saudi stocks start trading on Sunday.

1) Saudi Aramco has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Royal Dutch Shell to jointly pursue international gas business opportunities, including upstream development, liquefaction projects and other aspects of the gas value chain.

2) Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih hinted that the initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco could be delayed until 2019, Bloomberg reported.

3) Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has invested $400 million in US-based augmented reality startup Magic Leap. 

4) Kingdom Holding Co. and Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) signed a consulting agreement with France’s Orange Business Services whereby the latter will design the ICT infrastructure for Jeddah Tower and Jeddah Economic City project.

5) Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) said that its board of directors proposed paying a cash dividend of 5 percent (SAR 0.50 per share) for fiscal year 2017.

6) National Petrochemical Co.’s (Petrochem) board of directors has recommended a 5 percent cash dividend for the fiscal year 2017, at SAR 0.5 per share, amounting to SAR 240 million.

Separately, Petrochem said it net profit more than doubled to SAR 888.3 million for fiscal year 2017, compared to SAR 397.4 million a year earlier.

7) Company for Cooperative Insurance (Tawuniya) reported a net loss before zakat of SAR 715.3 million for Q4 2017, compared to a net profit of SAR 212.2 million in Q4 2016.

8) Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) reported a net profit of SAR 397.7 million in Q4 2017, compared to a net profit of SAR 43.7 million in the same period of 2016.

9) Saudi Indian Company for Cooperative Insurance (Wafa Insurance) has used SAR 90.6 million out of the total SAR 100.50 million proceeds generated from the rights issue to fulfil its solvency margin requirements, the insurer said in a statement.

10) Crude oil prices closed last week with gains as Brent crude rose nearly 3 percent to end the Friday session at $65.49/bbl, while WTI crude added 3.2 percent to close at $62.04/bbl.

Write to Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com