Manama / TNS Around 200 small businesses are facing major financial difficulties that could force them to close down and let go of thousands of employees. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which have been struggling to stay afloat since last year, have called for urgent measures to be taken, including new legislation, to protect them from going bankrupt. The SMEs ...

  REUTERS Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden), the Gulf’s largest miner, beat analysts’ forecasts despite posting a 50.95 percent fall in second-quarter net profit on Monday, as sales revenues declined on low commodity prices. The firm made a net profit of 132.5 million riyals ($35.3 million) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse statement. This ...

  REUTERS Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest lender by assets, reported a 5.7 percent rise in its second-quarter net profit on Monday, broadly in line with analyst forecasts. The bank made 2.05 billion riyals ($546.7 million) in the three months to June 30, up from 1.94 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a ...