RIYADH, 22 January 2006 — Leading Saudi dairy firm Almarai yesterday announced a net profit of SR106.9 million ($28.5 million) in the fourth quarter of 2005, up 13.1 percent from a year earlier. Net profit for 2005 was SR386.1 million, up just 4.3 percent from the previous year, the company said in a statement on the bourse website. Almarai posted a net profit of SR100.9 million in the third quarter of 2005. Sales in the fourth quarter rose 19.7 percent to SR603.7 million, bringing the year’s overall turnover to 2.14 billion riyals, up 13.8 percent from 2004. Assets increased 10.5 percent in 2005 to SR1.43 billion mainly after the company invested more than SR677 million in a new plant in the province of Al-Kharaj, it said.