Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) is said to be selling some of its properties and other assets to pay delayed salaries of its staff and end-of-service benefits to the workers it has laid off.

The reports are emerging as the workers, who in some cases have not been paid in more than six months, continue to stage protest demonstrations outside the company’s headquarters in Jeddah, the commercial hub of Saudi Arabia, according to local English daily Arab News.

Security forces were called in to disperse a large crowd that had gathered outside the company’s offices, demanding payment so they could travel before the holy month of Ramadan, which starts next week.

SBG has ongoing projects worth SR490bn ($130.1bn), but almost SR248bn of those are in jeopardy due to delayed payments from clients, reports in local media cited unnamed sources as saying. The problems for the firm have been compounded by the continuing worker protests.

SBG spokesman Yaseen al-Attas said the company does not comment on its financial affairs or its relations with partners. The firm is committed to paying employees and finishing contracted schemes on time, he added.

In May, SBG, the biggest contractor in the kingdom by turnover, secured a SR2.5bn loan from local banks, which was arranged by Arab National Bank and Sabb.

The company, which has laid off almost 70,000 of its workforce in recent months, intended to use the funds to clear end-of-service dues and boost cash reserves to clear salary arrears, banking sources told MEED.

SBG had originally approached banks in early April to secure SR5bn in cash by pledging its properties in Mecca and Jeddah as security against the financing facility. However, only a small group of lenders agreed to extend the SR2.5bn debt, the sources said, adding that the assets pledged by SBG are valued at between SR7bn to SR9bn.

The signing of the loan facility was considered a sign of relief for SBG, one of the oldest and the largest contracting firms in the region. However, it seems the company needs more than the amount raised to clear the dues and wages backlog.

SBG, which has mainly relied on multibillion-dollar state contracting for business, ran into financial difficulties and laid off workers to cut costs as the government stopped payments for the work it has done on several schemes. The company was barred from competing for new business in the kingdom following a crane accident late in 2015, which claimed more than 100 lives in the holy city of Mecca.

The ban was lifted earlier in May through a royal decree, and government ministries have slowly started releasing delayed payments.