Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Public Transport Co. (SAPTCO) on Monday reported a 37.6% drop in profits to SAR 81.74 million ($21.80 million) in 2017 from SAR 130.9 million ($34.91 million) in 2016.

The transport firm attributed the lower annual profits to six factors including 2% lower revenues on the back of a decline in transport services, higher operating costs by 5% or SAR 45 million owing to increasing the company’s bus fleet.

Moreover, general and administrative expenses increased by 1%, while income from financing dropped by 39% or SAR 5.9 million, SAPTCO said in a bourse filing.

SAPTCO’s revenues amounted to SAR 1.13 billion in 2017, down 2.1% from SAR 1.15 billion in the year before.

The bus-managing company last reported a 16.7% decline in profits to SAR 106.3 million in the nine-month period ended September from SAR 127.58 million in the same period of 2016.

SAPTCO’s stock closed Monday at a marginal rise of 0.06% to SAR 16.98.

Earlier in March, the Saudi transport firm began providing public buses in two major Saudi cities, namely Riyadh and Jeddah, under the Public Transport Authority's (PTA) supervision.