Saudi's SABIC posts 11% rise in Q4 net profit

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the world's biggest petrochemicals group by market value, posted an 11.3 percent rise in fourth quarter net profits on Saturday, but missed analyst forecasts.

The chemicals, metals and fertilisers conglomerate earned net income of SR5.83bn ($1.55bn) in the three months ending December 31, compared to its profit of SR5.24bn a year ago it said in a bourse statement.

Its full-year performance, with net income of SR24.7bn, represented a fall of 15.5 percent from 2011, when the company enjoyed successive quarters of record performance.

The fourth-quarter results marked a 7.6 percent fall from its third quarter net earnings.

Five analysts polled by Reuters had forecast, on average, that Saudi Arabia's largest listed company would earn SR6.39bn.

SABIC, 70 percent state-owned, cited a "higher cost of sales and lower sales prices for certain products, despite higher sales and production volumes and reduction in financial charges" for its fall in 2012 net income.