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SABIC Achieves Record Profits Exceeding $3.6 Billion in Q1 2017 | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Riyadh – Net profit at Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the world’s biggest petrochemical producers, jumped 80 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter of 2017 on the back of higher sales prices for its products.

SABIC, which is majority state-owned, made a net profit of 5.24 billion riyals ($1.40 billion) in the three months to March 31, up from 2.91 billion riyals in the year-earlier period, the company said in a bourse statement on Monday.

Gross sales for the first quarter totaled SR 36.95 billion, up 10 percent from SR 33.47 billion riyals a year ago.

The company’s results are closely tied to oil prices and global economic growth because its products – plastics, fertilizers and metals – are used extensively in construction, agriculture, industry and consumer goods manufacturing.

Like other Saudi companies, SABIC began reporting its results under international IFRS accounting standards this year, so some of its figures for the first quarter of 2016 were restated. Last year, it reported a net profit of 3.41 billion riyals for the quarter.

For his part, President of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thunayan Al Saud and CEO of SABIC said that SABIC’s continuous success is due to the wise guidance of the Saudi leadership and the economic stability in Saudi Arabia.

He said that this success proves the compatibility of SABIC’s strategy for the year 2025 with the Kingdom’s ambitious vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020 that contributes in activating the company’s role in boosting Saudi economy.

Moreover, Prince Saud attributed the company’s success in achieving these large numbers in its profits to the reliance on outstanding human resources that are capable on making a difference.

He noted the efforts made in the restructuring process carried out by the company’s management during the last period, which contributed in increasing the level of competitiveness of the company in the highly competitive market and taking advantage of the global expansion and the presence of the company in major markets such as China, USA, Europe and others.