Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) on Sunday posted strong results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2018.

Between January and September, the mega chemical and petrochemicals maker achieved SAR 18.3 billion ($4.88 billion) in net profits after Zakat and tax, up 24.23% year-on-year from SAR 14.73 billion ($3.93 billion).

Total profit was SAR 44.95 billion up 20% from SAR 37.44 billion in the first nine months of 2017, while revenues increased 17.7% to SAR 128.86 billion during the nine-month period ended 30 September 2018 from SAR 109.44 billion in the year-ago period, SABIC said in a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

It is worth noting that during the nine months to September, period SABIC implemented a strategic restructuring initiative, which shaved off SAR 1.1 billion in costs.

Total shareholders’ equity after deducting minority shareholders’ interest amounted to SAR 169.17 billion, up 4.55% from SAE 161.8 billion in the first nine months of 2017.

SABIC’s earnings per share (EPS) stood at SAR 6.1 between January and September 2018 against SAR 4.91 in the corresponding period of 2017, its bourse filing indicated.

As for the third quarter of 2018, the mega Saudi company logged a net profit after zakat and tax of SAR 6.1 billion, up 5.35% year-on-year from SAR 5.79 billion, whereas total profit grew 9.64% to SAR 14.9 billion from SAR 13.59 billion in Q3-17.

Quarter-on-quarter, SABIC’s net profits fell 8.95% from SAR 6.7 billion.

The Saudi-listed chemicals maker achieved SAR 43.71 billion in revenues in Q3-18, up 13% year-on-year from SAR 38.68 billion, it said.

Higher Q3-18 profits came on the back of increased selling prices and sales volumes.

Earlier this month, SABIC announced that its subsidiary SABIC Capital II B.V. had issued $2 billion in dollar-denominated sukuk. The 10,000 sukuk were issued at a par value of $200,000 each, SABIC revealed.