Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the investment company chaired by Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, has reported a net income of SR707 million ($188.2 million) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012, up 10.5 per cent compared to the year before.

The company said the fourth quarter results too had witnessed a solid growth reaching SR210 million which exceeded last year’s growth by 11.6 per cent.

KHC is one of the world’s most successful and diversified business organizations, highly respected in the field of investments and recognized as an elite player in the Arabian Gulf region, and internationally.

Its portfolio has key interest in landmark hotel properties and hotel management companies, real estate development in Jeddah and Riyadh, financial services, technology and media, manufacturing, aviation and agriculture.

Announcing the results on Monday, Shadi S. Sanbar, the KHC chief financial officer and member of the investment committee, said the company had netted significant gains from sales of certain real estate land sales in Riyadh, and also made profit from the sale of hotels together with improving results from its three hotel management companies.

In addition, the general improvements in the equities market, both domestically and internationally, coupled with improving results from its associated companies and income on investments contributed favourably to the overall success in 2012, noted Sanbar.

“The 136 per cent increase in share price in 2012 was the highest in Saudi Arabia and reflected the overall market confidence in the company’s sustained ability to deliver and realize substantial value to its shareholders,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service