DUBAI (Reuters): Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding , the investment firm of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, posted a 9.2 percent increase in its first-quarter net profit, it said in a bourse statement on Sunday.
The firm made a net profit of 110.1 million riyals ($29.4 million) during the three months ended March 31, compared with 100.8 million riyals in the same period a year earlier. Kingdom Holding attributed the growth to a gain on investments, a decrease in finance charges and the reversal of an impairment loss.
The investment firm has minority stakes in some of the world's top companies. Aside from being one of the largest shareholders in Citigroup, it owns stakes in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and microblogging site Twitter.
Talal, a grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder and a nephew of King Abdullah, hit the headlines last month in a spat with Forbes over his position in the magazine's billionaires list. ($1 = 3.7501 Saudi riyals)