Hail Cement Co. has announced a fall in quarterly profits on falling demand, the company said in an announcement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). Net profits fell 20.99% year on year in 4Q16 – but did show some improvement on the previous quarter.
Net profit in 4Q16 was SAR23.7 million, the company said, compared to SAR30.0 million in 4Q15. That was something of a recovery on 3Q16, however, when the company recorded net profits of SAR20.1 million.
The quarter-on-quarter increase came due to some “unrealised investment gains”, the company said, which blamed “less demand and strong competition” on its otherwise negative performance.
For the year, the company reported net profit of SAR104.5 million – a 7.95% loss on the previous year. Annual revenues were SAR272.1 million in 2016, compared to SAR256.4 million in 2015.
The Saudi Arabian cement sector suffered a string of poor results in 4Q16 on falling demand. Saudi Cement reported a 6.5% fall in net profits for the quarter, while Arabian Cement saw net profits plunge over 84% in the quarter.
Based in Hail, north of Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, Hail Cement was established in 2011. The Hail cement plant has a design capacity of 5000 tpd of clinker, according to the company website.