Riyadh – Mubasher: The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) on Wednesday reported year-on-year profit falls across its results for the fourth quarter of 2018 and the full-year 2018.

Bahri’s profits after calculating Zakat and tax amounted to SAR 91.4 million ($24.37 million) between October and December 2018, down 55.8% year-on-year from SAR 207.04 million ($55.20 million), according to a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The company’s revenues increased 24% to SAR 1.78 billion in Q4-18, from SAR 1.43 billion in the year-ago period.

Despite the revenue growth, Bahri's profits had declined during Q4-18, which the firm ascribed to incurring SAR 36 million in losses from a stake in its affiliate firm Petredec, added to higher financing costs. 

Year-on-year, operating profits went up 39.7% year-on-year to SAR 386.21 million in Q4-18, from SAR 276.39 million.

Quarter-on-quarter, profits rose 12.5%, from SAR 81.28 million.

From January to December 2018, Bahri’s profits after calculating Zakat and Tax slumped 39.87% to SAR 481.24 million against SAR 800.31 million in 2017.

Bahri attributed the sharp decline in annual profits to suffering SAR 119 million in losses in some associates during the year, added to rising financing costs, which grew by SAR 81 million in 2018. This was despite a slight rise in sales, of 1.39%, to SAR 6.12 billion in 2018, from SAR 6.04 billion.

Operating profits fell 4% year-on-year, reaching SAR 1.1 billion, compared to SAR 1.13 billion in 2017.

Earnings per shares amounted to SAR 1.22 in 2018 against SAR 2.03 in the previous year.

Bahri’s stock fell 0.31% to end Wednesday at SAR 32.55.