Al KHOBAR: Savola Group, the Saudi Arabia-based food conglomerate, posted a 21.8 percent year-on-year rise in its first-quarter net profit to SR295.2m ($78.72m), it said yesterday, exceeding analysts’ expectations.
The company attributed the increase in profits to higher revenues from food, especially edible oil, growth in sales and increasing its retail market share, it said in a statement on the Saudi bourse.
It said sales grew 9 percent to SR7.2bn in the first quarter.
The firm, which owns the Middle East’s biggest sugar refining business, said it expects to make net profit of 365m riyal in the second quarter. Analysts expected Savola to make profit of SR265.11m in the first quarter.
In a separate statement, Savola said it plans to pay 0.50 riyal per share in dividends.
Reuters
