Saudi Arabia: Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co., owner of the Kingdom’s bourse, has posted a 23-percent first-half profit drop amid a record year of initial public offerings.

The group made SR278 million ($74 million) in profit during the first half of 2022, down from SR362 million in the same period last year, it said in a bourse filing.

This was coupled with an 8.3 percent decline in revenue to SR592 million, mainly due to the decrease in trading services and post-trade services.

Higher salaries and employee-related benefits further weighed on profit during the six-month period, leading to a rise of 9.8 percent in expenses to SR301 million.

The chairman of the Capital Market Authority, Mohammed Elkuwaiz, had earlier told Arab News that Saudi IPOs are on course for a record year, adding that the number of listings in the first half of 2022 has already surpassed those of last year.

Commenting on the results, CEO Khalid Al-Hussan said: “Testament to the avid growth and diversification of our market and its attractiveness is the growing number of IPOs during the first half of the year, resulting in 246 listed companies on both the main market and Nomu – Parallel Market.”

Tadawul also launched single stock futures contracts earlier this year as its second derivatives product.