Saudi Arabia's SABIC sees second quarter profit rise by 85% to $580M

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), the kingdom’s largest petrochemicals firm, surpassed analysts’ expectations Thursday and posted a nearly 85% year-on-year increase in second-quarter net profit, signaling the potential recovery of a sector that has been weathering a downturn since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company, one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies, posted a profit of 2.18 billion riyals ($581.04 million) for the three months to June 30, a jump of 84% compared with the same period the previous year, beating analyst expectations of 904.25 million riyals, LSEG data showed.

SABIC, which is 70% owned by state-owned oil company Aramco, said the profit was high due to improved margins and non-cash benefits arising from new regulations on zakat, the Islamic tax.

Revenue for the second quarter of 2024 rose 5% to 35.72 billion riyals ($9.52 billion) from the previous year, which the company said was due to better average selling prices and a slight increase in sales volume.