Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding , the investment firm owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, reported a 14.8 percent increase in first-quarter net profit on Sunday, citing higher income from investments. 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 .Net earnings in the three months to March 31 were 126.4 million riyals ($33.7 million), compared to 110.1 million riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.It attributed the rise in net profits to an "increase in gain on investments despite the decrease in dividends income and increase in loss from associate and finance charges."Kingdom's statement did not elaborate further. Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing more detailed results later. ($1 = 3.7503 Saudi Riyals)
News Corporation is a diversified media and information services company. Shares of NWSA traded higher by 0.54% or $0.09/share to $16.88. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $14.39 and as high as $18.53. On average, 3435570 shares of NWSA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1113032.
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