JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Almarai, the Gulf’s largest dairy company, reported a 13.4 percent increase in third-quarter net profit, slightly beating analysts’ forecasts as sales rose.

Almarai made a profit of SR539.4 million ($143.8 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, up from SR475.6 million in the year-earlier period, according to a statement to Riyadh’s bourse.

Eight analysts polled by Reuters had forecast on average that Almarai would make a quarterly profit of SR520 million.

The firm said third-quarter sales rose 11.7 percent to SR3.27 billion.

Separately, Almarai said a fire had caused “significant” damage at one of its bakeries in Jeddah last week and that it would evaluate the financial impact of the blaze in coming weeks.