Hada News
Saudi CMA wants every Main Market company to hold earnings calls twice a year; comments close 29 October
The Capital Market Authority's draft would require a call within five business days of results, after the market closes, with the slides and recording posted straight away. The authority wants it to apply from the announcement of FY2026 annual results.
Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) has put draft Regulatory Provisions for Earnings Calls out for public comment. The authority said on 29 September that the consultation runs for 30 calendar days and ends on 29 October 2026 (18/05/1448H). Comments go through the Istitlaa public consultation platform; the file also appears in an early-October Saudi Press Agency round-up of Istitlaa projects carried by Al Yaum.
What the draft says, according to the CMA statement as carried by Argaam and Mubasher: every Main Market company would need two earnings calls a year. A call would have to happen no more than five business days after results are announced, and only once the market has closed. Companies would post notice of each call on their website, with its format and how to sign up, and use it to cover their results, their guidance on future financial performance, and the challenges and opportunities ahead, before taking questions. Slides and the call recording would go up on the company's website straight away.
Timing: the CMA says it will study all comments before adopting a final text, and that it intends the rules to start with companies' FY2026 annual results announcements.
How advisers read it: in a 2 October note, STAT Law Firm says the two calls would follow the annual results and the second-quarter interim results, that the draft does not extend to companies on the Nomu parallel market, and that it does not prescribe numerical guidance or a forecast horizon. Those points are the firm's reading of the draft, not lines from the CMA statement.
Why it matters: the draft would turn earnings calls into a fixed, timed obligation with a public recording for every Main Market issuer. That touches disclosure controls, management preparation and the timetable around each results release. Issuers, investor-relations teams, analysts and investor groups have until 29 October to comment.
Sources: CMA statement, 29 Sep 2026 (via Argaam and Mubasher); SPA Istitlaa round-up (via Al Yaum); STAT Law Firm note, 2 Oct 2026.
Watch next: the final text after 29 October, whether the CMA confirms the FY2026 start, and its separate draft on improving IPO practices, whose Istitlaa consultation closes on 22 October.