The Impact of COVID-19 on the Financial Performance of Firms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

COVID-19 pandemic has been highly detrimental to both the overall economy and the financial performances of firms in all sectors. It has placed increased pressure on the manufacturing capacity and supply chains throughout the world, but it has also provided new opportunities for the logistics industry to make advancements in ecommerce. This study analyses the financial performance of 130 Saudi firms that listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange in order to explore those dynamics which belong to the following sectors (energy, material, industrials, consumer discretionary, communication services, consumer staples, healthcare, financial, information technology and utilities). To facilitate comparison between several ratios in 2019 and 2020, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was conducted. This study determined that there was no improvement to any of the 130 listed firms in the sample during this time, which is reassuring for businesses in Saudi Arabia, as over the same period, the Saudi Economy shrunk. These findings are useful for businesses to plan for Covid-19 like disruptions in the future.