SABIC sales Increase 29%
RIYADH: Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), which reported forecast-beating net profit for the fourth quarter, increased its sales for the period by 29.3 percent while its costs rose 3.7 percent. SABIC’s sales netted SR31.9 billion ($8.51 billion) in the three months to end-December, the highest quarterly sales figure since the third quarter of 2008, up from SR24.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to detailed financial statements published on Friday. The state-controlled firm’s costs rose to SR21.9 billion in the fourth quarter, up from SR21.1 billion a year earlier, the data showed.
Dubai sets $2bn for transport
DUBAI: Dubai’s transport department will spend up to 7.5 billion dirhams ($2.04 billion) in 2010 on projects although it expects less than half this amount in revenues for the year, it said on Saturday. The department expects revenues in 2010 to reach 3.3 billion dirhams, Mattar Al-Tayyer, chairman of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority said in a statement. It did not give a comparative figure for revenues in 2009. The spending will benefit some 120 projects, 13 of which are new and the remainder under completion, Al-Tayyer said.
— Compiled from agencies
