Riyadh – Mubasher: Almarai Company on Sunday said its profits declined 4.20% to SAR 1.45 billion ($39 million) in the third quarter of 2018 from SAR 1.51 billion ($40 million) in the corresponding period of 2017.

Quarter-on-quarter, profits fell 3.5% from SAR 1.50 billion, according to a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The Saudi food producer attributed the decrease in Q3-18 profits to a decline in revenues, whereas other expenses jumped 14.1% or by SAR 5.7 million.

Year-on-year, sales were nearly stable at SAR 3.370 billion in the three-month period ended 30 September.

Net profits after calculating Zakat and taxes fell 4.8% to SAR 634.5 million by the end of Q3-18, compared to SAR 66 million during the corresponding period a year before.

At the level of the first nine months, Almarai logged SAR 4.21 billion profits, down slightly by 0.90% from SAR 4.24 billion in the same period of last year.

Revenues levelled down 1.7% to SAR 10.33 million in the nine-month period, from SAR 10.51 million from January to September 2017.

The total value of shareholders’ equity, excluding minority equity, jumped 9.2% to SAR 13.38 million from January to September, compared to SAR 12.26 million a year before.

Earnings per share (EPS) amounted to SAR 1.6 in the nine-month period ended 30 September versus SAR 1.63 a year earlier.

Almarai previously said its profits were nearly stable in the six-month period ended 30 June at SAR 1.004 billion ($270 million) versus SAR 1.002 billion in H1-17.

By 10:10 am Saudi time, Almarai's stock rose 0.10% to SAR 48.10.