Dubai: Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. swung to a net profit in the second quarter, ending a run of five straight quarterly losses, benefiting from low feedstock costs.
The company, an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), made a net profit of 91.02 million riyals ($24.27 million) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse statement.
This compares with a loss of 13.42 million riyals in the same period of 2015.
The average estimate of three analysts polled by Reuters was for a quarterly loss of 184.2 million riyals.
Like many petrochemical firms in the kingdom, Kayan’s earnings have been hit hard by falling product prices as they are closely tied to the price of oil.
In addition to the feedstock costs, Kayan cited higher sales quantities and reduced marketing fees from SABIC for its return to profit.
It restarted April 10 a plant that produces ethylene glycol and oxide ethylene which was offline since the start of March for scheduled maintenance. The financial impact of the shutdown was estimated to be 96 million riyals, split across its first- and second-quarter results.
