Displaying items by tag: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement Co has reported a 39% rise in its third quarter net profit. The rise was attributed to increased efficiency and higher local demand. The firm made a net profit of USD52m in the three months ending 30 September 2011, compared with USD37m in the same period in 2010. The company said it had raised efficiency by using new production lines and that local demand had grown. It attributed the fall in profits from the second quarter to a seasonal decline in sales. The company posted a second quarter net profit of USD57m.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement Co., which is Saudi Arabia's biggest cement firm by market value, has announced that its second-quarter net operating profit rose by 29.2% compared with the year-earlier period, to USD63.7m. It attributed the increase to higher demand driving sales.

The result was marginally above the USD63.2m predicted earlier by the firm. First-half earnings per share were USD0.88, compared with USD0.71 in 2010.

Saudi Arabia: Cement companies in Saudi Arabia recorded a 16% increase in sales in April 2011, the highest in more than a year. Domestic cement sales grew to 4.2Mt in April 2011, compared with 3.6Mt in the same period of 2010. Private projects, notably those for housing and schools boosted demand for the material.

"In 2010 people were very wary. The last thing they wanted to do was commit money, but now the outlook is looking brighter," said Farouk Miah, an analyst at NCB Capital in Riyadh. "There is also a lot of activity for plans to develop the rest of the country, in Makkah, Madina and Jeddah," he added.

Saudi Arabia is expected to need two million more homes by 2014 to keep up with the demands of a population that has quadrupled in 40 years. Shares of cement companies have already had a decent run in 2011, up an average of 24% over the same period of 2010.

It is expected that Saudi Cement, Southern Province Cement and Yamama Cement should benefit from the demand because they have the largest volume. Smaller cement companies, which are already running at full capacity, will be less well positioned to benefit.