Makkah Construction's financials affected by SAR 4 mln difference in Zakat provisions: official

Logo of Makkah Construction and Development Co.

Ziyad Al-Bassam, board member at Makkah Construction and Development Co., said that an amount of SAR 4 million was calculated as provisions that were not proven, which affected the audited financial results.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, Al-Bassam indicated that these provisions are related to different Zakat assessments, adding that the company's profit in the first half of 2022 from SAR 86 million to SAR 82 million following the review.

The reason for this difference is due to the fact that the company was applying the Hijri financial year and then switched to the Gregorian year, which will affect this year in that the company will have a short Hijri year and also a short Gregorian year. This is in addition to changing the company's legal auditor, which led to issuing preliminary financial results. Then they were reviewed more accurately by the external auditor until the final financials approved by the external auditor were declared, according to the official.

Al-Bassam expected an increase in the number of visitors to Saudi Arabia, as all residents in GCC countries will be allowed to enter the Kingdom soon, and with the issuance of host visa, indicating that this would raise the residents' desire to visit Makkah and Madina and thus positively affect the company's income.

In July, the company announced that it generated SAR 86 million net profit for the six-month period ended Shawwal 29, 1443 (May 30, 2022), against SAR 14 million loss in the year-earlier period, then backtracked on these results since they were not approved by the external auditor, according to Argaam's data.