Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the biggest petrochemical companies globally, on Monday pivoted to a Q3 2024 net profit of 1 billion riyals ($266.7 million) from a net loss of SAR 2.88 billion in the year-ago period.

The net profit missed analysts’ mean estimate of SAR 1.6 billion, according to LSEG data.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis it was 54% lower due to 3% lower gross profit of SAR 194 million due to lower selling prices and higher feedstock prices, the petrochemicals giant said.

In Q3 2024, revenue increased by 2.5% year-on-year to SAR 36.88 billion mainly due to the increase in the sales volume partially offset by a slight decrease in average selling prices.

SABIC has projected a CAPEX in the range of $ 3.3 to 3.9 billion for 2024.

Anoop Fernandes, senior analyst at Bahrain-based SICO said there were no great surprises in SABIC's numbers this quarter.

“It's a cost-competitive company compared with its global peers, so it was able to maintain profits. The main problem is weak demand for petrochemicals in China and globally; we have even seen some destocking and see no signs of this phase ending.
 
“Non-recurring items such as the fair value assessment loss from the Alba stake sale transaction contributed to earnings missing consensus forecasts.”

(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)

brinda.darasha@lseg.com