Tamara’s Saudi profit more than doubles from Q2 as longer-term lending overtakes BNPL

Tamara’s Saudi financing business more than doubled quarterly profit as longer-term consumer lending overtook the buy now, pay later product on which it was built, with a new roughly $200 million debt tranche helping to finance the expansion.

Net profit at Tamara Finance Company reached SAR203.6 million ($54.3 million) in the three months to September, up 142% from the previous quarter and more than sevenfold from a year earlier. Revenue rose 25% from Q2 and 165% year on year to SAR882.7 million ($235.4 million), according to the accounts, which cover the Saudi lender and its Irish financing vehicle.

The recovery follows a 32% fall in profit in the second quarter, when higher credit and funding costs absorbed more of the income generated by a rapidly expanding loan book. In Q3, revenue growth comfortably outpaced the increase in credit losses, while operating expenses declined.

Behind those results is a continuing shift towards longer-term credit. Consumer financing receivables reached SAR4.37 billion at the end of September, narrowly surpassing the SAR4.31 billion held in traditional pay-in-instalments, as the total gross loan book expanded 34% during the quarter to SAR8.68 billion ($2.32 billion).

The change has gathered pace since Tamara received its consumer financing licence from SAMA in February 2025. Islamic financing accounted for 42% of the loan book by March this year and 48% by June, before crossing the halfway mark in September.

Income from that financing reached SAR303.7 million in Q3, roughly a third of revenue, compared with 27% in the first quarter.