Riyadh – Mubasher: Herfy Food Services on Monday posted a 3.7% year-on-year hike in its net profits after calculating Zakat and Tax, recording SAR 58.1 million ($15.49 million) in the third quarter of 2018, from SAR 45.89 million ($12.23 million).

The firm attributed the third-quarter profit growth to a rise in sales, coupled with lower administrative and general expenses, according to a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

Revenues increased 6% to SAR 329.1 million during the three-month period ended September, from SAR 311.7 million in the year-ago period.

Quarter-on-quarter, the Saudi firm's profits grew 26.6% year-on-year by the end of September, from SAR 45.88 million.

During the first nine months of 2018, Herfy Food Services’ profits inched down 0.27% to SAR 151.74 million, compared to SAR 152.15 million in the same period a year earlier.

The company ascribed the nine-month profit decline to a growth in administrative and general expenses, in addition to a rise in financing expenses, whereas other revenues dropped.

Sales rose 5% to SAR 902 million from January to September this year, from SAR 858.8 million in the same period a year earlier.

Herfy Food Services’ stock increased 2.19% to finish Monday’s trading session at SAR 42.