Saudi Exchange suspends 18 firms over failure to disclose financials

• Suspensions until Thursday
• Must disclose by April 29
• Extremely slow Q1 for IPOs

The Saudi Exchange has suspended 18 listed companies from trading for failure to submit annual financial statements within the required period.

In an announcement on Wednesday morning the exchange said it would suspend 10 companies listed on the main market, as well as a REIT (real estate investment trust) and seven companies listed on the parallel market.

The suspensions will run for the duration of trading on Wednesday and end on Thursday morning. Listers then have until April 29 to release their disclosures to avoid a second suspension beginning on April 30.

The companies that were suspended on the main market are: Saudi Industrial Export; Nama Chemicals; Takween Advanced Industries; Arab Sea Information System; Al Jouf Cement; Arabian Company for Agricultural and Industrial Investment; United Cooperative Assurance; Methanol Chemicals; Aldawaa Medical Services and Raydan Food  

MEFIC REIT Fund was also suspended.
The companies suspended on the parallel market were: Rawasi Albina Investment; Osool and Bakheet Investment; Advance International Company for Communication and Information Technology; Amwaj International; Leen Alkhair Trading; Molan Steel and Sure Global Tech.
While the Tadawul All-Shares Index, which tracks the main market, has risen by nearly 7 percent since the start of the year, it fell by almost 13 percent throughout last year.

• Saudi IPOs slow as listings drop to eight-year low
• Tadawul operator proposes dividend despite profit drop
• Aramco shares rise against background of Iran conflict

An analysis by Saudi newspaper Al Eqtisadiah suggests that fourth quarter profits for listed companies excluding Saudi Aramco were the worst since the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, having declined 63 percent from Q3.

The first quarter of 2025 has also been the slowest start to a year for initial public offerings in eight years. 

Just one company, quarrying and construction materials company Saleh Abdulaziz Al Rashed & Sons, raised $67 million in the only IPO on the main market so far this year.