Good morning, wonderful people, and happy first day of Wimbledon to our fellow tennis nerds. We have another packed issue for you this morning to mark what is also the first day of 2H 2024.

HAPPENING TODAY- Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will hold talks today in Riyadh with officials from Bangladesh on business ties and the Rohingya crisis among other issues, Bangladesh news agency UNB News reported. Also on the agenda are investment in education, tourism, health, environment, and tech. The Bangladeshi delegation is being led by Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud.

Could the crown prince be paying a visit to Bangladesh this year? That’s what UNB News, says citing statements Bangladesh officials made earlier this year. If confirmed, this it would be the first visit by a Saudi crown prince to the South Asian country since 1985.

AND- Trading of Tadawul-listed Tihama Advertising and Public Relations Co.’s shares will be suspended starting today after the advertising company failed to publish Q1 2024 results. The company now says it expects to release its results on Monday, July 29.

PSA #1- Brace yourselves for a heat wave. The National Center of Meteorology sees temperatures in the Eastern Region rising to 46-49°C this week, while Riyadh, Makkah, and Madinah will see highs in the 42-45°C range all week long.

PSA #2- Businesses have six more months to submit their tax returns if they want to take advantage of a tax-fine waiver scheme put in place by Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (Zatca), according to a statement from the authority. It set a new deadline of 31 December, 2024 after a previous deadline expired yesterday.

HAPPENING TOMORROW-

The order window for Al Sagr Cooperative Ins’s rights issue opens tomorrow and runs through Tuesday, 9 July, according to a disclosure to Tadawul. The subscription period for new shares wraps up on Sunday, 14 July.

BACKGROUND- Shareholders of Al Sagr Cooperative Ins. approved last week the board’s recommendation to more than double its capital to SAR 300 mn through a rights issuance. Proceeds will allow Al Sagr to meet minimum capital requirements for ins. companies.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking will travel to Saudi and Oman this week to discuss ongoing Houthi escalations in the Red Sea, according to a statement by the US State Department. Lenderking is also set to discuss recent detentions by the rebel group of a number of UN and diplomatic staff members. Exact dates were not provided.

HAPPENING SOON-

Cozying up with Tajikistan? The Kingdom and Tajikistan could sign as many as 12 agreements in an upcoming visit to Riyadh by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Tajik Investment Minister Sultan Rahimzadeh told Asharq Al Awsat. Rahimzadeh declined to name the sectors and didn’t give a date for the visit.

SubHed_! WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Nomu-listed school operator Academy of Learning (AOL) is preparing to move to Tadawul’s main market, it said in a filing to Tadawul. The company took a 25.6% stake to Tadawul’s parallel market Nomu back in 2022..

How is AOL doing with Tadawul’s upgrade checklist? The company’s market cap has grown to SAR 745 mn, exceeding the main market’s minimum of SAR 300 mn. AOL has floated just under 25.6% of its issued capital, within striking distance of the big-board requirement of 30%. The company is profitable and has been publishing its audited financial statements for the last two years, while the minimum requirement for Tadawul stands at three.

BACKGROUND- AOL shareholders recently signed off on the board’s recommendation to increase its capital by 50% to SAR 90 mn. It lined up the Capital Market Authority (CMA) approval for the move back in May.

#2- The Real Estate Development Fund is rolling-out a new program in a bid to increase homeownership across the Kingdom, state news agency SPA. Only units under construction will be eligible for the new program, which is offered in partnership with Bank Albilad.

DATA POINTS-

#1- Saudi is exporting more art than ever before: The value of artwork exports more than tripled y-o-y to SAR 473.6 mn in 1Q 2024, according to figures provided by Al Watan. The value of exported paintings, sculpture, carpets, jewelry, and other artifacts made by local artists could top SAR 2 bn by the end of the year.

Who’s buying? Collectors in the UK, France, Italy, the US, and Gulf neighbors including the UAE and Qatar, the newspaper says.

#2- The price to refill a cylinder of cooking gas rose 10% to SAR 21.90, according Gasco, the sole national distributor of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The hike comes after Aramco increased the price of LPG prices by 9.5% in June to SAR 1.04 per liter, according to its website. Gasco has also raised kerosene prices by 43% to SAR 1.33 per liter.

SPORTS-

#1- Former Spanish star Michel Salgado was appointed coach of Saudi’s U-15 national football team, according to a statement by the Saudi Football Federation. Salgado has two UEFA Champions League titles to his name in addition to four La Liga titles. He also previously coached Cypriot club Pafos FC..

#2- The national U-19 football squad has qualified for the semifinals of the Arab Diar Championship for West Asian U-19 teams after drawing with Oman 1-1, state news agency SPA reported. The tournament in Taif sees 12 teams going head-to-head. It wraps up on Friday, 5 July.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s once again all politics, all the time on the front pages of the world’s business press, and centrist and left-of-center politicians, pundits, and journalists are wringing their hands across much of the northern hemisphere.

#1- France’s far-right Rassemblement National took the first round in snap parliamentary elections called by President Emmanuel Macron. Projections see the RN taking 33.2% of the vote. The leftist Nouveau Front Populaire likely took 28.1%, while Macron’s Ensemble took just 21%. Turnout was high — 20% points better than in 2020, France’s Les Echos writes.

It’s the second round run-off that really matters, Germany’s Handeslblatt notes, and it’s scheduled for July 7. “The final result will depend on days of horsetrading before next week’s run-off,” Reuters writes.

Want more? Wall Street Journal | Financial Times | Reuters

#2- British voters go to the polls on Thursday, and Labour still enjoys what the BBC calls a “big lead” (about 20 percentage points) over Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives.

#3- Joe Biden’s top advisors are fighting calls that he step down as the Democrats’ nominee, portraying his poor performance on Thursday night as a “blip” and the result of “bad preparation and exhaustion” as his family tells him to keep fighting and plots the ouster of his top advisors, who they blame for the performance.

The bottom line: A new poll on Sunday showed that nearly three quarters of voters think he should end his re-election campaign.

ALSO WORTH KNOWING on this hot summer morning:

  • EY has a new boss. Today is Janet Truncale ’s first day on the job;
  • Hungary takes over the rotating EU presidency today;
  • Ultra-Orthodox men in Israel have taken to the streets to protest that they’re now subject to mandatory military service.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR- For our fellow tech nerds: Samsung will hold its Unpacked event on 10 July and Google will unveil its Pixel 9 on 13 August — two months ahead of what most tech-watchers had expected.

WATCH THIS SPACE- The US Fed’s Open Markets Committee will release meeting minutes and its latest economic forecast on Wednesday.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The eight-week Esports World Cup will open on Wednesday, 3 July and run through Sunday, 25 August Riyadh’s Boulevard City. It will see the world’s best esports clubs competing for a pool of USD 60 mn — the largest purse in esports.

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