Taiba likely to see lower operating revenue, plans cutting cost: CEO

Taiba Investments Co. is forecast to report lower operating revenue this year, as the Hajj season and the holy month of Ramadan were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, chief executive officer, Saleh Abdallah Al Habdan told Argaam.

"The negative impact of the pandemic started to reflect on the company's revenue and operations as of March 2020, and it is still ongoing due to the Kingdom's precautionary measures to curb the outbreak. Such impact can be determined during the coming quarters,” he stressed.

Al Habdan added that projects in Al-Madina were heavily hit by the crisis, while new projects are running as scheduled with some minimal delays due to the partial or full lockdown in the Kingdom.

"We are doing our best to mitigate the pandemic impact through cutting costs as well as expenses and capitalizing on the government's initiatives," Al Habdan noted.

Taiba's robust figures in Q1 2020 were mainly driven by lower general and administrative expenses (G&As), profit from selling the company's stake in Taiba Contracting and Maintenance Co. (TACOMA) and a land expropriation compensation.

Taiba reported a 62% profit hike year-on-year (YoY) to SAR 50.6 million in Q1 2020, Argaam reported.