Riyadh - Mubasher: United International Transportation Company (Budget Saudi) on Thursday said its net profits inched down 0.27% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2017.

Net profits decreased to SAR 42.81 million in Q3-17, from SAR 42.92 million in Q3-16, according to a bourse statement.

Quarter-on-quarter, profits edged up 0.36%.

The Saudi-based firm attributed the slight decline in its year-on-year net profits in Q3-17 to the decrease in revenue mainly from short rentals.

“Even though the lease revenue has partly compensated the loss of short rental revenue, the rental and lease revenue jointly low compared to same quarter last year. Also the number of vehicles sold along with net gain on sale is low due to vehicles sales volume and mix,” Budget said in its statement.

At the level of the first nine months of 2017, the company’s net profits levelled down 7.2% to reach SAR 127.94 million, compared to SAR 137.92 million in the corresponding period in the year earlier.

Budget’s stock closed Thursday down 2.5% to record SAR 25.37.