DUBAI, July 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Savola Group reported a 15.4 percent fall in second-quarter net profit on Tuesday, missing analyst forecasts as the food producer warned its third-quarter profit was likely to plunge.
The company made a net profit of 434.4 million riyals ($115.84 million) in the three months to June 30, down from 513.3 million in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast Savola would make a quarterly profit of 491.5 million riyals.
Savola also forecast its third-quarter net profit would be 355 million riyals, which would represent a drop of 49 percent year-on-year according to Reuters data.
The company, a producer of cooking oil, sugar and other foodstuffs, said its profit in the second quarter of 2014 had been swelled by a one-off capital gain from the sale of its Kazakhstan operations.
Savola said its profit for the second quarter of this year was also lower versus a year earlier because earnings from an associate declined and it paid out more money in local and foreign taxes.
Savola in April said it expected a profit of 429 million riyals ($114.4 million) in the second quarter, citing lower than expected retail sales and currency devaluations in some foreign markets.
The company has approved paying a second-quarter dividend of 0.5 riyals per share, the same as for the corresponding period of 2014, it said in a separate bourse statement.
($1 = 3.7500 riyals)
(Reporting by Matt Smith, editing by Olzhas Auyezov) ((matt.smith1@thomsonreuters.com; 00971506354039; Reuters Messaging: matt.smith1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
The company made a net profit of 434.4 million riyals ($115.84 million) in the three months to June 30, down from 513.3 million in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast Savola would make a quarterly profit of 491.5 million riyals.
Savola also forecast its third-quarter net profit would be 355 million riyals, which would represent a drop of 49 percent year-on-year according to Reuters data.
The company, a producer of cooking oil, sugar and other foodstuffs, said its profit in the second quarter of 2014 had been swelled by a one-off capital gain from the sale of its Kazakhstan operations.
Savola said its profit for the second quarter of this year was also lower versus a year earlier because earnings from an associate declined and it paid out more money in local and foreign taxes.
Savola in April said it expected a profit of 429 million riyals ($114.4 million) in the second quarter, citing lower than expected retail sales and currency devaluations in some foreign markets.
The company has approved paying a second-quarter dividend of 0.5 riyals per share, the same as for the corresponding period of 2014, it said in a separate bourse statement.
($1 = 3.7500 riyals)
(Reporting by Matt Smith, editing by Olzhas Auyezov) ((matt.smith1@thomsonreuters.com; 00971506354039; Reuters Messaging: matt.smith1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
