The Saudi Basic Industries Co. announced yesterday a net profit of $372.3 million in the first quarter of this year. The figure is a 360-percent increase over the $81 million posted in the first three months of 2002, SABIC said in a statement. Managing Director Muhammad Al-Madi said the increase was "due to a rise in the company's sales and of the prices of most products. "But Al-Madi added that prices could now be hurt by the prevailing situation in the world, including an expected drop in oil prices and an anticipated economic slowdown owing to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Asia.
Overall production increased 19.5 percent in the first quarter to 10.4 million tons from 8.7 million tons and sales were up 8.8 percent to 7.4 million tons from 6.8 million tons, SABIC said. In April last year, SABIC acquired the petrochemicals operations of the Dutch chemicals group DSM in a deal worth $2 billion. The company has been renamed SABIC Europe. SABIC's market capitalization exceeds $4 billion and the group has total assets of more than $24 billion. It operates 93 factories in Saudi Arabia producing mainly petrochemical products.
Source: SPA
