Saturday, Apr 13, 2013
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia's Yanbu National Petrochemicals Co. (2290.SA), better known as Yansab, posted Saturday a 7.4% drop in first-quarter profit as the shutdown of a ethylene glycol unit for planned maintenance weighed.
Net income in the three months ended March 31 amounted to 667.1 million Saudi riyals ($180 million), down from SAR720.3 million in the year ago period. Earnings per share in the latest three-month period were SAR1.186, down from SAR1.280 in the year earlier, Yansab said in a statement on the Tadawul website.
The quarterly net profit result still beat the SAR635 million effort that analysts at EFG Hermes had penciled in.
Yansab noted a decrease in produced and sold quantities of petrochemicals during the quarter as a result of the shutdown of its Ethylene Glycol unit from Nov 25 until Jan 25.
"The improvement in the sales price of most products and lower finance charges has reduced the impact," it added.
Yansab shares closed trading Saturday down 0.5% at SAR51.75.
Write to Dubai Bureau at djnews.dubai@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
13-04-13 1317GMT
