Dour Hospitality and Taiba Investment announced that the boards of directors of both companies have agreed to begin preliminary discussions regarding a potential merger. The companies stated in separate statements published on the Saudi stock market website "Tadawul" that these discussions do not necessarily mean that the merger will occur. If an agreement is reached, it will be subject to the conditions and approvals of the relevant regulatory bodies in Saudi Arabia and the extraordinary general assembly approvals of both companies. The companies mentioned that any upcoming developments regarding this matter will be announced in due course.
Dour Hospitality, founded in 1976, is a company specialized in hospitality with acquired experience over decades in managing, developing, and operating hotels and residential communities throughout Saudi Arabia. Taiba Investment is a Saudi joint-stock company established on September 24, 1988, with a capital of 1.6 billion riyals. The company engages in owning properties, hotels, and recreational facilities, as well as investing in buying, selling, managing, operating, and maintaining them. According to data published on the Saudi stock market "Tadawul," the company "Asilah Investment" owns 27.14% of Dour Hospitality and 16.73% of Taiba Investment. Additionally, Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed Al-Eissa owns 12% of Dour Hospitality and 7.41% of Taiba Investment.
**Taiba's Q1 Profits**
Taiba Investment reported a transition to losses of approximately 1.91 million riyals in the first quarter of 2021, compared to a net profit of around 50.57 million riyals in the same quarter of 2020. On a quarterly basis, the company’s losses decreased by 76.54% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to losses of about 8.14 million riyals in the fourth quarter of 2020. The company stated that the reason for the net loss in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the net profit in the same quarter of 2020, was a decrease in revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the previous year’s quarter including profits from the sale of investments in an affiliate company and receiving compensation for land expropriated in Medina for the expansion project of the Prophet's Mosque.
**Dour's Q1 Profits**
According to the company's data, Dour Hospitality reported a net profit decline of 82.7% after zakat and tax in the first quarter of 2021, amounting to 1.87 million riyals compared to about 10.87 million riyals in the same quarter of 2020. The company had incurred a net loss of around 42.03 million riyals in the fourth quarter of 2020. Dour Hospitality indicated that the reason for the decline in net profit during the first quarter of 2021, compared to the same quarter in 2020, was the ongoing repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis and the resulting operational challenges for the company’s hotels, which led to a significant decline in revenues from the company’s hotels in Mecca due to the halt of external Umrah and the sharp drop in demand for other hotels as a result of precautionary measures to limit the spread of the virus.
