Sabic extends earnings slump as second quarter profit falls 23.2%

Dubai: Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), one of the world’s largest petrochemicals groups, reported a 23.2 per cent drop in second-quarter net profit on Wednesday, extending a earnings slump as lower sales prices continued to weigh. Sabic made a net profit of 4.74 billion riyals (Dh4.64 billion, $1.26 billion) in the three months to June 30, down from 6.17 billion riyals in the year-earlier period, the company said in a bourse statement. The result was ahead though of the 3.92 billion riyal average estimate of five analysts polled by Reuters. Sabic, which is 70 per cent state-owned, attributed the profit fall to lower average sales prices, in addition to an impairment on the assets of Ibn Rushd, an affiliate of Sabic.