RIYADH: Al-Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s largest lender by market value, said its net profit fell 9.6 percent in the fourth quarter, below analysts’ forecasts. Al-Rajhi made SR1.424 billion ($379.7 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, down from the SR1.58 billion it made a year-earlier, the bank said in a statement.
Riyad Bank’s net profit down 33%
RIYADH: Riyad Bank said yesterday its fourth-quarter net profit fell 33 percent to SR529 million ($141.1 million) compared to the year-earlier period, below analysts’ forecasts. Riyad bank made SR793 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, the bank said in a statement posted on the bourse’s website.
PetroRabigh incurs heavy loss
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (PetroRabigh) said yesterday its fourth-quarter losses rose 359 percent partly due to a decline in prices and demand for petroleum products. The firm, whose net losses amounted to SR903 million ($240.8 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, said its operational losses stood at SR907 million in the same period.
Saudi Cement’s profit drops 21%
RIYADH: Saudi Cement Co., the country’s second-largest producer of the building material, said yesterday fourth-quarter profit fell 21 percent to SR131.7 million ($35.12 million) after a government ban on exports. Saudi Arabia introduced the ban on cement exports in June to ease supply bottlenecks amid soaring demand across the region.
Bahrain, Kingdom to build pipeline
MANAMA: Bahrain and Saudi Arabia plan to replace and expand an oil pipeline connecting the two countries by 2011, with costs expected to reach $350 million, a senior Bahraini official said yesterday. Abdulkarim Al-Sayed, chief executive of Bahrain Petroleum Co. (Bapco), said the engineering design for the pipeline would be completed by the end of this year, and construction completed in 2011.
Arabtec delays $654m project
DUBAI: Arabtec Construction, will postpone work on a 2.4 billion dirham ($653.4 million) project for at least a year after developer Emirates Sunland decided to delay the project, London-based MEED said yesterday. The project, which is located in the Madinat Al-Arab district of Dubai Waterfront, was awarded to Arabtec in September 2008, MEED said.
Barwa studying merger terms
DUBAI: Barwa Real Estate is still studying the terms and conditions in a planned merger with Qatar Real Estate Investment Co., Barwa’s finance chief said yesterday after the government ordered the two firms to join forces. “We’re still studying conditions and terms,” said Tamer Khedr, chief financial officer and acting president of financial services at Barwa.
