Tas'heel grows revenue but profit falls on slower lending

Published: 2026-07-09T06:41:38.000Z

Tas'heel has delivered the kind of results that reward a careful reading, growing its top line through the first half of the year while its bottom line quietly slipped. Net profit eased to 112.61 million riyals from 118.3 million a year earlier, even as revenue kept expanding.

Tas'heel has delivered the kind of results that reward a careful reading, growing its top line through the first half of the year while its bottom line quietly slipped. The Saudi consumer finance company, listed as United International Holding on the Tadawul, reported preliminary figures for the period ending 30 June showing revenue expanding on the back of a still-growing financing portfolio, even as net profit attributable to shareholders eased to 112.61 million riyals from 118.3 million a year earlier, a decline of roughly 4.8 per cent. The second quarter is where the pressure really shows. Revenue for the three months climbed about 6.5 percent to 204.98 million riyals, yet net profit dropped more than 20 per cent to 48.22 million riyals, down from 60.49 million in the same quarter of 2025. Operating profit told a similar story, falling to 55.15 million riyals from 67.51 million. Compared with the first quarter of this year, net profit was down just over 25 per cent, a sharp sequential swing that suggests the squeeze intensified rather than eased as the year went on. The company's own explanation is refreshingly plain. It points to a slowdown in the growth of its financing portfolio, which it attributes to prevailing market conditions, alongside continued spending on initiatives designed to strengthen its operational infrastructure ahead of what it hopes will be sustained expansion in the coming years. That framing casts the profit dip as a deliberate trade, money spent now on systems, capabilities and readiness in exchange for future scale. Earlier in the year the pattern was already visible, with rising provisions for expected credit losses and climbing operating expenses eating into quarterly profit even as revenue advanced, a familiar rhythm in lending businesses that push hard on growth. The regional picture explains why the slowdown matters beyond a single balance sheet. Saudi Arabia's consumer finance sector has ridden an extraordinary wave, buoyed by Vision 2030 spending, a young population and the rapid normalization of instalment credit through buy now, pay later players such as Tabby and Tamara, both of which have been collecting fresh licenses from the central bank. That crowding has made borrowers pickier and lenders more cautious, while regulators at SAMA keep tightening oversight of a market they want to grow responsibly rather than recklessly. Tas'heel's results, alongside softer numbers from other listed Saudi names this quarter, hint at a financing sector shifting from breakneck expansion to something steadier, where the companies investing now in operational depth may be the ones best placed when the cycle turns again.