Kingdom Holding Company, chaired by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, on Tuesday posted an 82.8-per cent drop in the net profit for the three months to June 30.

The company's net profit plunged to SR92.1 million ($24.6 million) from SR534.7 million a year earlier, Kingdom Holding said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse's website.

But the figure still represented an increase from the first quarter of 2009, when Kingdom reported SR50.1 million profit.

Announcing the company’s financial results of operations for the second quarter and the six months ended June 30, 2009, Alwaleed said the company's consolidated net income for six months touched SR142.2 million ($38 million).

Alwaleed said the cash proceeds from the sales of certain company assets were used to reduce the company's total debt by SR2.8 billion or 16 per cent when compared to December 31, 2008 debt balances.

In addition, during the quarter ended March 31, 2009, the company successfully renegotiated two of its financing arrangements and realized more favorable repayment terms, he added.

Alwaleed said 'KHC returns to profitability through its sound strategic plan. I feel confident that KHC's financial results will continue to grow during the remainder of this year. It has in place a very well defined vision and its executive team is fully committed to achieving financial results and objectives.'

He pledged that the Kingdom Holding would still go ahead with its huge real estate Jeddah and Riyadh projects as per schedule.-TradeArabia News Service