Saudi Savola Group Q1 net profit up 21.8% y/y

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, April 13, (RTRS): Savola Group, the Saudi Arabia-based food conglomerate, posted a 21.8 percent year-on-year rise in its first-quarter net profit to 295.2 million Saudi riyals ($78.72 million), it said on Saturday, 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 7.2 billion riyal in the first quarter.

The firm, which owns the Middle East’s biggest sugar refining business, said it expects to make net profit of 365 million riyal in the second quarter.

Analysts expected Savola to make profit of 265.11 million riyal in the first quarter.

In a separate statement, Savola said it plans to pay 0.50 riyal per share in dividends total ling 250 million riyal in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Saudi Yanbu National Petrochemical (Yansab) posted a 7.4 percent drop to 667.07 million riyals ($177.88 million) in net profit for the first quarter on Saturday, beating analysts’ expectations of 577.46 million.

Yansab, an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) , attributed the decline in profits to “lower production and sales” because of maintenance at its ethylene glycol unit.