Uploaded on
This executive report applies the ORION framework to every non-financial company listed on the Saudi Exchange: 325 corporates across the Main Market and Nomu, with SAR 8.38 trillion of market value, scored on audited FY2025 fundamentals. It asks what the market looks like when companies are judged on their balance sheets alone, without reference to the sovereign rating, market prices or analyst judgement. Each company receives a score against its global industry peers and a score against the global corporate universe, the signed distance between them (the ORION Sector Effect Index, OSEI), and a Sharia qualification under seventeen published screening methodologies.
The central finding is that strength is concentrated rather than general, and that weighting choices change the picture fundamentally: the capitalisation-weighted market is dominated by Aramco, while the typical company sits in tier C. Because ORION does not notch for government ownership or support, the report can show that the apparent premium of state-linked issuers is a size and sector effect, not an ownership effect.
For allocators, issuers and the exchange, the report argues for quoting both scores, treating Nomu as a distinct universe, and recognising that Sharia eligibility depends heavily on the standard applied.
Key findings
- 82% of market value sits in tier-A balance sheets, yet only 96 of 325 companies are tier A; the cap-weighted global score is 84.3 against an equal-weighted 54.6.
- The 29 government-related companies hold 90% of capitalisation and score 87.1 cap-weighted versus 58.3 for private Main Market issuers, but 53.8 versus 51.2 equal-weighted.
- The typical Nomu company scores 60.1 against 51.2 on the Main Market, reflecting small, lightly levered balance sheets whose real risks lie in liquidity, size and governance.
- 210 companies are neutral on the OSEI, while 44 are Boosters and 63 Handicaps, with Health Care and Consumer Discretionary carrying the heaviest Handicaps.
- 139 companies (43%) pass at least 80% of the Sharia methodologies and hold 89% of market value, but pass rates range from 40% to 83% depending on the standard.
Summary of the paper; the full analysis is in the PDF.