Sipchem net profit down 25.3%

The Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) has the interim financial results for the period that ended on Dec. 31, 2012.
It said net profit during fourth quarter amounted to SR157.7 million compared to SR211.2 million for the same quarter last year with a decrease of 25.3 percent and compared to SR155.8 million for the previous quarter with an increase of 1.2 percent.
The company’s gross profit during fourth quarter amounted to SR300 million compared to SR425.9 million for the same quarter last year with a decrease of 29.6 percent.
Operating profit during fourth quarter amounted to SR258.4 million compared to SR 381.1 million for the same quarter last year with a decrease of 32.1 percent.
Net profit during 12 months amounted to SR601.2 million compared to SR 705.9 million for the same period last year with a decrease of 14.8 percent.
The company’s earnings per share during 12 months was SR1.64 compared to SR1.93 for the same period last year.
Gross profit during 12 months amounted to SR 1.26 billion compared to SR1.43 billion for the same period last year with a decrease of 11.4 percent.
Operating profit during 12 months amounted to SR1.13 billion compared to SR1.30 billion for the same period last year with a decrease of 12.9 percent.
The reason for the decrease during current quarter compared to same quarter last year is due to the decrease in profit margins as a result of decrease in products prices and increase in feedstock prices of butane and ethylene.
The reason for the decrease during current period compared to same period last year is due to decrease in products prices.
The reason of the marginal increase during current quarter compared to previous quarter of current year is due to the slight increase in most of company products prices compared to what was in previous quarter.
Certain of the prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform with the presentation of the current period.
In spite of the significant decrease in the prices of most of the company’s products during the year 2012 which was the main effect of the decrease of company’s financial results, the current year has witnessed an improvement in the operating performance of company plants where the production quantities increased by 4 percent and accordingly sales quantities increased compared to last year which marginally contributed to limiting the decrease in company results.