Saudi Market: Petrochemical revenues up 31% in 9 months, ‎‎“Alujain” achieved highest growth ‎

Monitoring for Maaal newspaper revealed that revenues of Saudi petrochemical sector companies at the end of the first nine months of this year increased by 30.56%, to reach 246.79 billion riyals, compared to 189.02 billion in the same period of the previous year, an increase of 57.77 billion riyals.

“SABIC” topped the highest revenues for the period, with a value of 155.49 billion riyals, an increase of 25.75% over the value of the company’s revenues in the first nine months of last year, amounting to about 123.65 billion.

“Petro Rabigh” came in second place, with revenues estimated at about 45.15 billion riyals, compared to 32.52 billion in the first nine months of the previous year, with a growth of 38.82% on an annual basis.

“Al-Lujain” achieved the highest growth rate in revenues for the period among the sector’s companies, with an increase of 8714.3%, to reach 1.46 billion riyals, compared to 16.54 million riyals only in the first nine months of last year.

While “Alujain” achieved the highest growth rate in revenues for the period, the growth rate in “Saudi Kayan” revenues was the lowest among the sector’s companies, and by the end of the first nine months of this year it amounted to only 0.55%, to reach 9.14 billion riyals compared to 9.09 billion in the same period of 2021.

In terms of operating profits for the sector’s companies, according to the monitoring of “Mal”, they amounted to 38.77 billion riyals at the end of the first nine months of this year, compared to 40.69 billion for the same period last year, a decrease of 4.7% on an annual basis.

“SABIC” topped the operating profits of the sector’s companies with a value of 22.39 billion riyals, followed by “SABIC Agro-Nutrients” by about 8.15 billion, while “Nama Chemicals” came in the eleventh and last place with operating profits amounting to 61.92 million riyals.

On the other hand, “Saudi Kayan” recorded the only operating losses among the sector’s companies at the end of the first nine months of this year, with a value of 125.04 million riyals, compared to operating profits for the same period of the previous year amounting to 2.28 billion riyals.

While the operating profits of 5 companies in the sector increased during the comparison periods, led by “SABIC Nutrients”, with a growth of 188.8%, the operating profits of 6 other companies decreased, led by “Yansab”, with a decrease of 58.5%.

 “Maaal” added that there has been a decline in the net profits of the petrochemical sector companies listed on the Saudi stock market at the end of the first nine months of this year, by 2.5% on an annual basis, to reach 29.89 billion riyals, compared to 30.65 billion profits for the same period of the previous year.

“SABIC” achieved the highest profits for the period among the sector’s companies, with a value of 16.24 billion riyals, a decline of 10.3% from its counterpart in the past year of 18.10 billion, and a profit of 5.41 riyals per share.

On the other hand, “Saudi Kayan” recorded the only losses among the sector’s companies, by about 452.77 million riyals, compared to profits for the first nine months of last year amounting to 1.94 billion riyals, and a loss per share of 0.30 riyals.

As for “SABIC Agro-Nutrients”, which ranked second in terms of profits for the nine months, it achieved the highest profit rate per share among the petrochemical sector companies by the end of the period, with a value of 16.53 riyals per share. It also recorded the highest profit growth rate of 219.1%

Maaal justified the increase or decline in corporate profits during the first nine months of 2022 and its counterpart in the past year, as the reasons differed from one company to another, while the companies that announced an increase in their profits attributed the reason to the increase in the quantities sold for their products, the increase in the average sale of products and the targeting of new markets. Other companies attributed the decrease in profits to the high cost of sales and the decrease in selling prices with the increase in expenses.

As for “Saudi Kayan”, the only loser in the sector, she said that the negative shift in the results during the comparison periods is due to the increase in the average cost of feedstock and the decrease in the average selling prices of products, despite the increase in the quantities produced and sold.