Saudi Arabian authorities imposed cUSD83mn in penalties for insider trading the shares of Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) [7020.SE], according to Reuters. The Appeal Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes ordered Abdulaziz Alsaghyir Business Investment Co. to pay the Capital Market Authority (CMA) SAR281mn (cUSD74.7mn) for insider trading. The sum was to settle losses on the company’s investment portfolio, which were avoided using illicit trading, reuters quoted a CMA statement as saying. The committee also fined four persons between SAR100k-200k each for disclosing or trading on insider information. These included former Mobily chairman Abdulaziz Al Saghyir, and Mohamed Alashgar who was ordered to pay an additional SAR30.5mn. Legal action was taken when Mobily restated 27 months of earnings, which it attributed to errors related to the premature booking of revenue from wholesale broadband leases and mobile promotional campaigns, these restatements cut SAR1.76bn off profit made by the company. The issue came to light in late 2014, after which Al Saghyir resigned as chairman in Feb 2015, citing health reasons. 

Mobily: SAR14.44 as of 26 Feb. 2018, Rating: Neutral, TP: SAR17.00/share, MCap: USD2,965mn, EEC AB/7020.SE