Saudi Maaden Q4 net profit up 45%

Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) posted a forecast-beating 45 percent increase in its fourth-quarter net profit after it began production of ammonia and di-ammonium phosphate, it said in a bourse statement on Sunday.

The state-controlled minerals firm made a net profit of SAR406m (US$108.3m) in the three months ending December 31, compared with SAR280m in the same period a year earlier.

Two analysts polled by Reuters expected the firm to post between SAR316.1m to SAR397m.

Maaden attributed the increase in its fourth-quarter net profit to the beginning of commercial production of ammonia and DAP, which is di-ammonium phosphate used to make industrial fertiliser.

Operational profit for the fourth-quarter rose by 47 percent to SAR721m.

The firm is in a phase of rapid production growth, with plans to build a new US$1.5bn aluminium refinery, add a new line to an existing aluminium smelter, and invest US$5.6bn in a phosphate project.

In December Maaden announced that it had raised SAR9bn through an Islamic loan facility to help fund its future projects.