Budget Saudi in final stages of launching projects within ‘Shareek’; positive impact of car sales to continue: CEO

CEO Fawaz Danish

United International Transportation Co. (Budget Saudi) is in the final stages of announcing its participation in a number of strategic projects within the ‘Shareek’ program, according to Fawaz Danish, Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

These long-term investments will achieve the company's expansion goals into larger areas of the Kingdom, help in securing new investments, and entering sectors related to transportation and logistics, Danish told Argaam in a telephone interview.

Commenting on the financial results, the CEO said that short-term car rental operations began to recover better in Q3 this year compared to the same quarter last year and the previous quarter, against a slight improvement in long-term rental operations.

He pointed to the contribution of used car sales worth SAR 90.7 million and a profit of over SAR 60 million during Q3 2021.

The electronic chip crisis reduced global production of new cars, so the natural result was increased demand and higher profit margins for used cars. Danish predicted continued positive impact of car sales in the next two quarters.

Budget Saudi invested about a month and a half ago in “Syarah” application and owns more than 5% of it, which is useful as a long-term investment and in line with the company's plan to target modern technologies for the sector’s sales, he noted.

According to data compiled by Argaam, Budget Saudi reported a net profit after Zakat and tax of SAR 168.2 million for the first nine months of 2021, a 55% rise from SAR 108.5 million in the year-earlier period. Q3 2021 net profit after Zakat and tax rose 40% to SAR 56.8 million.