1Q earnings from Bahri, SAL, NMDC

Bahri records Ws across the board

The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) posted a 303% y-o-y jump in net income for 1Q 2026 to SAR 2.2 bn, alongside a 129% revenue increase to SAR 5 bn, it said in an earnings release (pdf). Growth was driven by the Bahri Oil segment, which saw its revenue jump 241%, and Bahri Chemicals, which posted a more modest 14% increase for the quarter.

Using the war to its advantage: Bahri reaped the rewards of war-induced market conditions, where heightened geopolitical tensions lifted freight rates. Despite disruptions to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and a shift toward the Red Sea corridor, Bahri maintained full fleet deployment and increased chartering activity to meet elevated demand, capitalizing on the volatility.

REMEMBER- Bahri has been supporting the Kingdom’s Red Sea pivot via Yanbu port during the Hormuz disruption, chartering supertankers at record rates early in the war.

SAL’s net income was hit by war-related disruptions

SAL Saudi Logistics Services posted a 2.3% y-o-y increase in net income to SAR 156.6 mn in 1Q 2026, it said in its latest earnings release (pdf). The company’s bottom line was hit by war-related disruptions, operational pivots, and the CargoGate investment, which pressured margins to keep its services running. Meanwhile, revenues rose 16.1% y-o-y to SAR 445.8 mn, driven by a 19% increase in the cargo ground handling segment, which came on the back of stronger pricing and higher yields rather than volume growth.

How SAL handled the war: SAL’s 1Q results were impacted by March’s regional air and maritime disruptions, which constricted volumes — particularly in transit and e-commerce — while tighter capacity helped push freight rates higher. The company partly cushioned the impact by adjusting its network and increasing the use of road feeder services to keep cargo moving.

NMDC’s margins take the hit as costs bite

NMDC Group’s net income was squeezed by higher logistics, ins., and fuel costs related to regional disruptions, falling 51% y-o-y to AED 387 mn in 1Q 2026, according to its earnings release (pdf). Meanwhile, the group’s revenue rose 7% y-o-y to AED 6.6 bn on steady backlog conversion.

The group’s dredging and marine unit generated 79% of its net income, while the remaining 21% came from its energy segment. For revenues, the energy segment drove 75% of the total but reported slimmer margins.

Pipeline stays heavy: The backlog stands at AED 55.4 bn, with some AED 1.8 bn in new awards during the quarter.