Every service between Saudi Post and SPL, with the source of every figure and a cross-check against the signed contracts.
Financial year 2025 · Saudi riyals · rebuilt 31 July 2026 with full provenance
Now checked. I previously flagged that I had assumed the September 2022 addendum carried the PwC prices without reading PwC's document. I have now read it. The assumption was correct on nine products out of ten. The tenth, Awfar, diverges, and it is marked in the table. PwC's document is dated 9 August 2022, not 1 August as the audit memo says, and its own status line still reads "Draft for Approval."
The headline, now revised. On these three services alone the two directions almost cancel. Net movement is under 6 million riyals. But that is no longer the whole picture. Saudi Post also pays NAQEL and SPL Digital Services directly, and both are inside the SPL group, so those flows belong in any assessment of who is subsidising whom. All four tiles come from the same file: EY Requests (SP-SPL TP Arrangements).xlsx, forwarded by Aasem AlRajhi 23 July 2026.
NAQEL is not a third party. It is SPL's wholly owned subsidiary. Verified from the audited consolidated accounts, note 1, which list "Naqel Company and its subsidiaries" at 100% effective shareholding in both 2023 and 2022, and "SPL Digital Services Company" at 55%. Everything on this page that treated NAQEL as an outside benchmark or an arm's length supplier has been reworked below.
What this does to the benchmark. NAQEL answered the 2022 market survey that established what "arm's length" looks like for the prices Saudi Post charges SPL. The audited accounts show NAQEL was already 100% owned by SPL in 2022. So part of the comparable evidence used to price the parent's services came from the subsidiary's own wholly owned company. That is not a conflict of interest in the ordinary sense. It is a related party supplying the benchmark for its own group's pricing.
It also explains PwC's odd line about SPL possibly acquiring NAQEL: the 2022 accounts record an acquisition of a subsidiary during that year, so PwC was writing while the purchase was in train.
What this does to the flows. The 515.8 million of Saudi Post contracts with NAQEL, the 205.7 million with SPL Digital, and the 3.0 million with the parcel station company are not third-party procurement at all. They are money moving from the parent into the subsidiary group, outside the transfer pricing framework, in addition to the 141.1 million a year already identified.
Verified: the 100% and 55% holdings, from the audited consolidated accounts for 2023, note 1, which also give the 2022 comparatives. Not verified: the 50% and 40% holdings, Saudi Post's own stakes in Ersal and Ittihad Jawraa, the 2025 expense figures, and the historic 77.4 million of unsupported transfers. Those come from the SPL knowledge base and the underlying documents are not in this workspace. They are shown dashed or omitted rather than asserted.
What is charged for a single shipment, item or registration. The contracted rate, PwC's rate, the per-unit cost where it can be derived, and what the customer pays. Where a per-unit figure would need the shipment volumes nobody has supplied, the cell says so rather than guessing.
| Service | Contracted transfer price | PwC rate | Cost per unit | Customer pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CEP and Banking | 12 SAR a shipment, first 5kg. Banks 10 SAR, first 0.5kgAddendum 2, 21 Sep 2023, pp.12, 14 | 12 and 10 MatchesPwC D3 transfer price table | Needs volumes | 22 SAR, banks 14PwC D3 average customer price |
| International Outbound | Express 20 SAR up to 10kg, 25 for 10-30kg. Economy 15 and 20. Less 4 SAR if a third party moves it to the airportAddenda 1 and 3 to the retail agreement, pp.5-8. Supersedes the 16-27 commission of Feb 2022 | 20 / 25 and 15 / 20 MatchesPwC D3 international outbound cards | 4 to 15 SAR per kilogram for the air legA 10kg parcel to Casablanca costs about 142 SAR to fly, against a 20 SAR transfer price that expressly excludes the air legNAQEL air contract 240701138880, Annex 2, read by eye pp.44, 62 | Envelope 150. Parcels 189 to 689 express, 140 to 549 economy, by zone and weightRetail agreement Appendix 1, tariff pages, read by eye |
| e‑Commerce | 10 SAR a shipment, first 15kg. 5 SAR where Saudi Post does last mile only. Cash on delivery 20% of feesAddendum 2, 21 Sep 2023, p.21 | 10 SAR, first 15kg Matches | Needs volumes | 18 SARPwC D3 average customer price |
| Merchants, international inbound | 10 SAR a shipment, or per consolidated retail delivery point. Customs 1.1 SAR a kgAddendum 2, pp.19-20 | 10 SAR + 1.1 a kg Matches | Needs volumes | 13 SARPwC D3. Leaves 3 SAR over the transfer price |
| Alami | 10 SAR a shipment. Customs 1.1 SAR a kgAddendum 2, p.17 | 10 SAR + 1.1 a kg Matches | Needs volumes | 46 SARPwC D3. A 4.6 times spread over the transfer price |
| Pharma | 25 SAR chilled, 20 ambient, a shipment, first 5kgAddendum 2, p.8 | 25 and 20 Matches | Needs volumes | 30 SAR temperature controlledPwC D3 |
| Returns | 10 SAR a shipment, first 15kgAddendum 2, p.23 | 10 SAR Matches | Needs volumes | 12 SARPwC D3 |
| Economy, retail | 10 SAR a shipment. Cash on delivery 20% of feesAddendum 2, p.6 | Mapping unclearPwC lists economy only under international outbound at 15 and 20 | Needs volumes | Not located |
| Awfar | 12 SAR a shipment, first 5kg. Valid only while a subscriber takes fewer than 15 deliveries a yearAddenda 1 and 2, pp.13 and 16 | 12 SAR plus 10% of revenue to Saudi Post Contract dropped the 10%PwC D3 Awfar card. About 39.5 SAR a subscriber a year not collected | Needs volumes | 395 SAR a yearPwC D3 and the 2021 annex |
| Packaging | 1 SAR for every service soldPackaging addendum, 8 Sep 2022, financial clause, read by eye | Not in D3 | 1 SAR DerivableThe only per-unit figure on this page that needs no volume assumption | 8 to 26 SAR by item and weightPackaging addendum Appendix 1 |
| Mail Room | Per month: coordinator 5,900, supervisor 7,600, vehicle and driver 9,1002021 Annex 1 card ID-10. Superseded status unknown, no card found in the addendum pages read | Cards exist, not read | Needs headcount | Per month: 6,500, 8,500, 10,5002021 Annex 1 |
| e‑P.O. Box | 8% of revenues2021 Annex 1 card ID-12. Superseded status unknown | Not read | Needs volumes | Main box 1,495, sub box 4482021 Annex 1 |
| Express Individual and Urgent | Not locatedNo individual express card in the addendum pages read. The 2021 annex had 15 to 18 by weight | Not separately listed | Needs volumes | Not located |
| Financing | No contract found | Not in D3 | Unknown | Unknown |
| National Address Saudi Post pays SPL |
0.5 SAR maintenance, 1 SAR update, 1 SAR upgrade, per registrationNational address agreement, pp.6-7, read by eye | 0.5 / 1 / 1 MatchesValidates finding F-07 | Needs registration countsThe fees stack to about 1.5 SAR a registration a year, not 1 | Not applicable, Saudi Post is the buyer |
| Remittance SPL pays Saudi Post |
80% of the fee the remittance company pays SPL per transactionAddendum 3 to the retail agreement, p.9. Saudi Post also provides the staff and the premises | Not read | Needs volumes | Set by the remittance company |
What each side received per service, from management's own figures. Three years side by side. Scroll the table sideways to see all three years. Every figure from EY Requests (SP-SPL TP Arrangements).xlsx, sheet "Operations (SP to SPL)", forwarded by Aasem AlRajhi on 23 July 2026.
| Service | SPL from customers 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Saudi Post from SPL 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | SP share 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CEP and Banking | 53,884,269 | 68,701,470 | 168,471,870 | 9,199,951 | 32,413,764 | 74,913,248 | 44% |
| International Outbound | 89,312,703 | 84,816,447 | 67,650,036 | 59,663,770 | 51,607,502 | 41,737,960 | 62% |
| e‑Commerce | 24,365,602 | 33,207,380 | 47,798,351 | 20,165,348 | 11,830,509 | 1,045,620 | 2% |
| Express Individual and Urgent | 15,998,318 | 43,358,268 | 46,738,942 | 4,387,931 | 7,025,712 | 7,233,871 | 15% |
| Merchants, international | 12,528,109 | 28,061,172 | 23,764,695 | 6,605,312 | 3,464,117 | 983,879 | 4% |
| Economy | 3,248,090 | 6,696,678 | 22,928,175 | 1,093,527 | 2,646,883 | 2,912,064 | 13% |
| Mail Room | 362,100 | 2,134,014 | 17,697,249 | 493,171 | 1,442,577 | 7,144,433 | 40% |
| Alami | 10,454,063 | 11,028,241 | 10,498,454 | 640,037 | 606,386 | 568,512 | 5% |
| e‑P.O. Box | 3,023,853 | 7,266,917 | 8,413,845 | 5,199,972 | 6,381,806 | 6,370,988 | 76% |
| Pharma | 2,356,799 | 3,650,533 | 2,436,189 | 1,645,146 | 2,115,523 | 1,531,332 | 63% |
| Packaging | 3,168,207 | 2,712,590 | 1,515,028 | −2,322,501 | 187,247 | 93,402 | 6% |
| Awfar | 2,412,879 | 3,231,007 | 1,013,865 | 3,044,477 | 3,795,157 | 2,266,510 | 224% |
| Financing | 0 | 948,715 | 584,003 | 0 | 0 | 102,704 | 18% |
| Total | 221,114,992 | 295,813,432 | 419,510,702 | 109,816,142 | 123,517,183 | 146,904,521 | 35% |
Read the three columns across, not down. Two services move so violently that no rate change explains them. Saudi Post's share of e-commerce fell from 83% to 36% to 2% while SPL's revenue doubled. Merchants fell from 53% to 12% to 4%. The contracted rate for both is 10 riyals a shipment and has not changed since September 2022. Awfar is the mirror image: Saudi Post has taken more than SPL earned, every year.
The 2023 packaging figure of minus 2,322,501 is management's own and is not explained anywhere. Under a one riyal per service mechanism a negative number is not possible without an adjustment or restatement.
Here Saudi Post is the customer and SPL the supplier, so the flow reverses. These do not belong in the model above.
Saudi Post cannot say what it costs to serve SPL. It reports 940,447,126 of operating costs against the 146,904,521 it received, which would be a loss of about five riyals for every riyal earned.
That figure is not usable, and management says so itself. Its own note on the sheet states the costs cover the whole network, branches and sorting centres included, which also serves Saudi Post's own 709 million of customer business. Nobody has split it.
So the fairness question cannot be answered from this data. That gap is the finding.
Source: EY Requests xlsx, sheet "Operations (SP to SPL)", rows "Operating Costs" and "Gross Margin", Aasem 23 Jul 2026.
Provenance in full. Every management figure on this page comes from files forwarded by Aasem AlRajhi, SPL Chief Internal Auditor (arajhi@splonline.com.sa), under the subject line "SPL - Information Request List". The main file, EY Requests (SP-SPL TP Arrangements).xlsx, was forwarded on 23 July 2026; the covering email inside it shows it was written by Walid K. Jaafar of SPL and sent to Aasem the same day. Supporting files: Copy of SPL - Revised IRL - 8 July (version 1).xlsb.xlsx, 16 July; Product revenue and cost FY2025.V1 -.xlsx and SPL - Segment reporting.xlsx, both 17 July; PL By Product_FY2024.xlsx, 20 July. All four also from Aasem. Contract prices are read by eye from the signed documents, page cited in each cell. Nothing on this page has been adjusted, averaged or estimated.
Where I have assumed rather than checked. Three places, all marked above. One of the three has since been resolved by reading the source. First, that the September 2022 addendum rates are PwC's rates: this has now been checked and was correct on nine of ten products, the exception being Awfar. Second, that the e-commerce and merchants shipment counts implied by the charge are implausibly low: that is arithmetic on an unverified volume assumption, not a measurement. Third, that whatever sits inside the international outbound charge is air carriage: that is a guess and is labeled as one.
One thing this method cannot capture. Group profit worked out this way counts only what is invoiced. It misses value that is real but never charged for, such as SPL's free commercial use of the national address database, the branch and post box services bundled into Awfar without a charge, and payment terms that let Saudi Post pay in 15 to 30 days while waiting 60 to 90 to be paid.