DUBAI: Saudi Cement reported a 10.3 percent drop in third-quarter net profit on Thursday, matching analyst forecasts.

The Kingdom's largest cement company by market value said in a bourse filing its net profit for the three months to Sept. 30 was SR208 million ($55.5 million), down from SR232 million in the corresponding period of 2014.

It attributed its net profit drop to a decrease in sales, without elaborating further. Six analysts polled by Reuters had forecast on average that Saudi Cement would make a quarterly profit of SR209.1 million.

The Saudi government in June 2008 imposed a ban on cement exports to alleviate supply bottlenecks amid a surge in demand both domestically and from neighbouring countries.

But some companies, including Saudi Cement, export a little.