Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) on Wednesday reported a slight decline in net profits by 0.45% in the second quarter of 2017, compared to the corresponding quarter of the year before.

The company recorded a net profit of SAR 2.23 billion in Q2-17, versus SAR 2.24 billion in Q2-16.

Quarter-on-quarter, the Saudi-listed company posted a 54.78% drop in profits in Q2-17, according to a bourse filing.

The electric utility company said that the slight decrease in Q2 net profits was due to the rise of consumption expenses and the increase in energy purchased by independent producers against a small rise in the operational profit.

The company’s profits jumped 396.3% in the first six months of 2017 to SAR 7.17 billion from SAR 1.44 billion in H1-16.

Revenues rose by 1% reaching SAR 13.3 billion in Q2-17 from SAR 13.19 billion in Q2-16. As for the first half of the year, revenues also grew by 1% to SAR 22.2 billion, compared to SAR 22 billion in the same period of the year before.

SEC previously logged a net profit of SAR 4.94 billion in Q1-17 against losses of SAR 798 million in Q1-16.

By the end of Tuesday’s session, the stock inched up 0.29% at SAR 24.04.