DUBAI: Industries Qatar (IQ) reported a 5 percent rise in third-quarter net profit on Monday, above analysts’ forecasts, halting a sustained slide in profits.
The Middle East’s second-biggest petrochemicals company by market value after Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) had posted declining profits in the five preceding quarters.
But it made a net profit of 1.86 billion Qatar riyals (Dh1.9 billion) in the three months to September 30, Reuters calculated based on financial statements, up from 1.77 billion riyals in the year-earlier period.
Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected the company to make a quarterly profit of 1.66 billion riyals.
Petrochemical prices have strengthened in recent years, but worries persist over the impact of a global slowdown on industry earnings in the world’s top oil exporting region.
Industries Qatar, whose other main areas of business include steel manufacture and fertiliser production, made a profit of 4.7 billion riyals in the nine months to September 30, down from 6.3 billion riyals a year earlier, it said in a statement to Doha’s bourse.
