RIYADH: BinDawood Holding Co."s net profits declined 74 percent to SR60 million ($16 million) during the first nine months of 2022 from SR227 million in the same period last year. The company attributed the weak figures to lower gross profit and higher operating expenses combined. In response to the retailer’s poor performance, its shares declined 9.68 percent to SR56, leading the fallers at the end of Tuesday"s session. Despite the weak performance, its revenues surpassed SR3.6 billion between January and September, driven by BinDawood stores’ sales, which were 28 percent higher than in the first nine months of 2021. “Our sales were up 7.6 percent on a year-to-date basis, which is hugely encouraging, as we see shoppers returning to our stores and responding positively to our loyalty program launched earlier this year. However, this revenue increase has come by sacrificing gross margin because of continued promotional and marketing activity,” said Khalid BinDawood, managing director of BinDawood Holding Co. “In addition, the costs associated with opening new stores, M&A costs and the continued strengthening of the management team have resulted in a substantial increase in operating expenses. The combined effect has translated into a net loss of SR48 million for this quarter,” he added. For the third quarter of the year, BinDawood accrued losses of SR48 million from profits of SR70 million in the same period of last year.