Dar Al Arkan Q2 profit up 45%

Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development Company, Saudi Arabia's largest developer by market value, posted a 44.9 per cent jump in second-quarter profit as property demand grew in the largest Arab economy.

Dar Al Arkan posted earnings of 687.53 million riyals ($183.3 million), or 1.27 riyals per share, in the three months to June 30, compared with 474.44 million riyals, or 0.88 riyals per share, a year earlier, it said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website.

Quarterly profit growth was buoyed by a 49 per cent jump in revenues to 1.55 billion riyals from 1.04 billion riyals a year earlier, Dar al-Arkan said. The company cited "improvement in the operational performance and the increase in demand for property" as the key driver of revenue in the quarter.

The earnings topped a forecast of 493.4 million riyals by Bakheet Investment Group in a Reuters net profit survey last month.

Emaar Economic City, an affiliate of Dubai-based Emaar Properties, is building King Abdullah Economic City on the Red Sea, which has attracted around $35 billion in investments to last month.