Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) has posted a decline in profit to $1.9 billion in the first half of the current year.
The company however made $8.80 billion in sales during the period, up from $8.53 billion in 2021, propelled by rising demand for electric power.
The utility saw its shares lose 1.9 percent to SR26 in early trading, after the news of the financial results came.
The decline in net income was attributed to higher operations and maintenance costs as well as higher booked receivable provisions due to increased average aging.
Khaled Al-Gnoon, CEO of SEC Eng., said: “The improvement in the financial performance of the company was supported by higher operating revenues as a result of the growth of electricity consumption of commercial, industrial and government sectors, which in turn reflects the Kingdom’s strong economic growth during the current year.”
The utility major now boasts of more than 10.7 million customers, after adding more than 202,000 new customers during the first half of 2022.