SABIC Q2 Profit Rises 7% as Expected

 

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the world's largest petrochemicals groups and the Gulf's largest listed company, reported a 7 percent rise in second-quarter net income on Sunday, matching analysts' forecasts.

It earned 6.46 billion riyals ($1.72 billion) in the quarter, compared to 6.04 billion riyals in the year-earlier period, SABIC said in a bourse statement.

SABIC, which is 70 percent state-owned, attributed the rise in profits to higher production and sales volumes as well as higher sales prices.

This was in line with the average forecast of analysts polled by Reuters, who had predicted a quarterly profit of 6.42 billion riyals.

(Reporting by Nadia Saleem; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

($1 = 3.7502 Saudi Riyals)