Almarai Q1 profit up 7.3pc
SAUDI Arabia’s Almarai has said its first-quarter profit rose 7.3 per cent, missing analysts’ estimates despite higher sales and a one-off gain from an acquisition.
Almarai made a net profit of SR273.6 million ($73 million) in the three months to March 31, up from SR255.1 million a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.
Analysts on average forecast it would make a quarterly profit of SR284.9 million. The company had sales of SR2.72 billion, up 12.3 per cent.
$2bn investments planned
TWENTY new industrial projects worth SR7.45 billion ($1.99 billion) will be set up by the newly established Saudi Arabian Industrial Development Company in the next five years, says Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al Assaf.
The government will also invest about SR5.6 billion on infrastructure required by these projects, including wharfs at ports.
The company will invest in petrochemicals, plastics, iron and steel, aluminium and fertilisers and other basic industries. It will have a capital of SR2 billion with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) contributing 50 per cent. Saudi Aramco and Sabic will provide 25 per cent each.
Maaden Q1 profit down 48pc
SAUDI Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) blamed falling metal prices after it posted a 48 per cent drop in first-quarter net profit.
The profit of SR125.2 million ($33.4 million) in the three months to March 31 was down from SR239.2 million in the corresponding 2013 period.
This was well below the forecast of Bakheet Investment Group, which expected a net profit of SR213.1 million.
The company said the profit slump was due to declines in some metal and commodity prices.
Mubadala profit triples
MUBADALA Development Company (Mubadala), the Abu Dhabi-based investment and development company, tripled its total comprehensive income in 2013 to Dh5.3 billion ($1.44 billion), compared to Dh1.6 billion in 2012.
The results were primarily driven by the significant improvement in income from financial investments and the fair value of available-for-sale financial assets.
