DUBAI: Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co reported a 24.4 percent rise in third-quarter net profit yesterday, beating analysts’ forecasts and ending a sustained profit slump as sales prices and sales volumes increased.
The company, a unit of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the world’s biggest petrochemical companies, said it made a profit of SR913m ($243.5m) in the three months to September 30, up from SR734m in the year-earlier period. A group of nine analysts polled forecast on average that Safco would make a quarterly profit of SR794.7m.
Safco, a big producer of ammonia and urea, is dependent on global demand and prices. Since mid-2013, global players have voiced increasing concerns over the continued fall of urea prices due to China’s ramp up in output.
The firm had reported decreasing year-on-year profits for five consecutive quarters as it suffered from declining urea prices. Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing more detailed results later. Reuters
