Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Chemical Co has reported a 30.3% year-on-year drop in net profits after zakat and tax for the first quarter of 2019.

Net profit amounted to SAR 39.3 million in the three-month period ended March, compared to SAR 56.4 million in Q1-18, the company said in a recent statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

Quarter-on-quarter, the company’s net profit soared by 129.8% from SAR 17.1 million.

The decline in Q1-19 net profit was mainly driven by the decrease in sales of explosives with higher profit margin, despite the growth in pharmaceutical sales that had a lower profit margin, as well as the increase in operational expenses of pharmaceutical sales.

Moreover, registering the costs of two production lines in Aja's plant, a subsidiary of the company, during the current quarter to begin commercial production has impacted Q1-19 profits, in addition to the increase in Islamic financial charges.

The company’s revenue increased by 6.47% to SAR 842.4 million at the end of March 2019 from SAR 791.2 million in the same quarter last year.

In 2018, the Saudi Chemical had posted a net profit of SAR 114.82 million for the full-year 2018, up 19.2% from SAR 142.15 million in 2017.