Net profit for the three months ending March was SR165.2 million ($44.05 million), down from SR394 million in the same period last year, the food company said in a statement posted on Tadawul website.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the firm to post an average of SR181.66 million for the first quarter.

Savola, which owns the Middle East’s biggest sugar refining business and produces edible oil, said it expects to make a net profit of SR225 million in the second quarter, up nearly six percent from the same period last year.

It did not give a reason behind its second-quarter forecast.

First quarter net profit also fell because of the group’s capital gains from the flotation of fast-food chain Herfy in the same period last year, it said in the statement.

The firm’s board said on Tuesday it approved a first quarter dividend of SR0.25 per share.

Savola’s sales rose to SR5.6 billion from SR4.8 billion in the first-quarter, while operating profit for the period fell to SR288.3 million from SR331.1 million a year earlier.