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Tabby has received Saudi Central Bank approval to obtain roughly $300 million in additional foreign financing, as its Saudi lending business returned to growth following a second-quarter contraction and reported a sharp recovery in profit.
The approval comes as Tabby broadens its push into financial services, having announced a $233 million Series F at a $6.5 billion valuation in September. The additional debt financing would support its expanding Saudi lending business, separately from that equity round.
Net profit at Tabby Financing Company CJSC reached SAR53.6 million ($14.3 million) in the three months to September, up from SAR11.6 million in the previous quarter, although still 9% below a year earlier.
Revenue rose 9% year on year to SAR426 million ($113.6 million), with a new longer-term consumer-financing product contributing SAR59.4 million in its first full quarter.
The interim accounts, reviewed by EY, cover the group’s Saudi financing subsidiary, rather than its consolidated operations across markets.
The foreign-financing approval follows successive reporting periods in which its auditors drew attention to borrowing above a SAMA-prescribed ceiling, a constraint FWDstart has tracked through its annual and quarterly accounts.
SAMA issued its no-objection on October 27 to SAR1.125 billion in additional foreign financing from an unnamed global financial institution, with the approval valid until the end of 2029. The filing doesn’t identify the lender or say whether the financing has been drawn.
At the end of June, the company had disclosed net external funding SAR520 million above the regulator’s prescribed threshold. EY’s latest review no longer carries the emphasis-of-matter paragraph that flagged the issue in the preceding accounts, although the new filing doesn’t specify a revised ceiling or explicitly reconcile the approval with the earlier excess.
Tabby also added a domestic source of borrowing during the quarter, drawing SAR300 million ($80 million) through two commodity Murabaha transactions with Saudi National Bank. The financing is priced at one-month SAIBOR plus 2.5%, with SAR291.7 million outstanding at September-end and maturity in July 2028.
Borrowing through Flow Finance I DAC, the Irish vehicle behind its existing financing structure, remained unchanged from the start of the year.
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