Saudi CMA proposes twice-yearly earnings calls for listed companies

Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority has opened consultation on draft provisions that would require Main Market companies to hold earnings calls twice a year, within five business days of announcing financial results and after the market closes.

The consultation closes on 29 October 2026. The proposal is not yet in force: the CMA said public comments would inform approval of a final version, which would take effect when companies announce their annual financial results for the 2026 fiscal year.

A fixed timetable and public record

The draft would require every company listed on the Main Market to hold two earnings calls each year. Each call would have to take place within five business days of the relevant financial-results announcement and after the market closes, according to the CMA’s notice published on 29 September.

The issuer would announce the call on its website, explain how it would be conducted and set out the registration process. During the call, it would discuss financial results, guidance on future financial performance, challenges and opportunities, and respond to participants’ questions.

The mechanism is a recurring workflow rather than a standalone investor-relations event. An issuer applying the draft would need to connect its results calendar to the five-business-day window, prepare the call materials and manage questions alongside its formal disclosure process. Those are implementation consequences of the proposed provisions, not requirements currently applying under the consultation notice.

The proposed record would extend beyond the live event. The issuer would have to make the presentation and a recording immediately available on its website, allowing investors who did not attend to review the same material.

That publication requirement gives the draft its clearest control point. A website announcement, registration record, presentation and recording would provide evidence of the planned call, its content and the timing of public access. The notice does not specify how long those materials must remain available or prescribe a separate format for the recording.

The CMA said the provisions aim to improve disclosure and transparency, strengthen periodic communication with investors and analysts and support informed investment decisions. Those are the authority’s stated objectives. The source does not provide an estimate of compliance costs, the number of affected issuers or an exception for any category of Main Market company.

The draft’s scope remains the supervisory signal

The CMA’s proposed scope covers all companies listed on the Main Market. Its notice does not describe a parallel Saudi Exchange operating-rule amendment, a requirement for other GCC markets or a wider policy programme. The relevant signal is narrower: the capital-markets supervisor is proposing a common timetable and a common public-access process for covered issuers.

The draft’s reference to guidance on future financial performance also makes question-handling part of the proposed process. The supplied notice does not specify the permitted form of guidance, treatment of revisions, a safe harbour or a separate protocol for questions involving price-sensitive information. Those omissions identify matters on which the final provisions could determine how issuers prepare scripts, review presentations and retain the published record; they do not establish additional duties now.

The CMA said it would take public comments into full consideration before approving the final Regulatory Provisions for Earnings Calls. Comments can be submitted through the Unified Electronic Platform for Consulting the Public and Government Entities during the 30-calendar-day consultation, which ends on 29 October 2026.

For issuers, a proportionate preparatory response would be to test the proposed timetable against existing results calendars and the ability to publish the website announcement, presentation and recording without delay. That is an operational inference from the draft’s timing and publication requirements, not a present legal obligation.

The next test is the final CMA text

The next observable supervisory test is whether the final provisions retain the proposed Main Market scope, twice-yearly frequency, five-business-day window and immediate website publication requirement. The CMA has said the provisions would take effect when companies announce annual financial results for the 2026 fiscal year; the final announcement will establish whether that proposed trigger and the detailed call requirements remain unchanged.