JEDDAH: Saudi Electricity Co. has announced to have signed a SAR 15.2 billion Murabah syndication loan for general corporate purpose including capital expenditure.

The duration of the credit facility is seven years and the creditors include Al-Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation; The National Commercial Bank; The Saudi British Bank; Banque Saudi Fransi; Samba Financial Group and Arab National Bank.

Saudi Electricity Co. posted a net profit of SAR 1.785 billion for the year ended December 31, 2018, which is 74.2 percent lower than the profit of SAR 6.908 billion recorded in the previous year.

The decrease in net profit for the current period compared with the same prior year period is mainly due to the inclusion of the prior year results of a non-recurring income resulted from a reversal of cancelled municipalities fees, which was partially offset by non-recurring costs related to the human resources productivity program.

In addition, the current period result was impacted by IFRS 15 application, higher financing charges and energy consumption rationalization. This is despite of improved operational efficiency that resulted in lower fuel, operations and maintenance costs and general and administrative expenses.

The decline in revenues is attributed to the change in the accounting treatment of electricity connection tariff revenues by amortizing it over longer periods than previously, this is in accordance with the new international standard applied as of 2018 beginning. The impact resulted in a decrease in the current period revenues by an amount of SAR 1.34 billion.