RIYADH: Abdullah Al Othaim Markets Co. has announced a net profit of SAR 302.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, which is 32.68 percent lower than the profit of SAR 449.5 recorded in the previous year, a notice sent to Tadawul said.

The earnings per share (EPS) for 2018 clocked in at SAR 3.36 as against EPS of SAR 4.99 in 2017. Abdullah Al Othaim Markets Co. also declared cash dividend of SAR3.0/share along with the corporate announcement.

Consolidated net profit declined by 32.68 percent compared with last year mainly because the results of the prior year include the sum of SAR 111.94 million income from discontinued operations, net of zakat, realized from operating and disposing-of the shopping mall in Hail city.

When eliminating the effect of the discontinued operations, from the results of prior year, the net profits of the current year would become less than the prior year by 10.36 percent. This decline is mainly due to recording impairment provision for certain assets and properties amounting to SAR 38.71 million in conformity with the accounting standards.

The Company achieved savings in financing cost amounted SAR 9.55 million which decreased by 67.5 percent as a result of early settlement of long-term loans.

The results of the corresponding period include the sum of SAR 3.5 million loss from a fire incident occurred at one of the branches and reimbursed in the fourth quarter of 2017.[the_ad id=”31605″]