KSA’s Almarai And Dar Alarkan Up

Saudi Arabian dairy and food producer Almarai Co posted on Saturday an 8.7 per cent year-on-year rise in its second quarter net profit.

The Gulf’s largest dairy firm made 379.5 million riyals ($101.2 million) in the three months ending June 30, compared with 349.3 million riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said.

Almarai said the rise in second-quarter net profit was due to increased sales in all sectors as well as fully consolidating International Dairy & Juice Ltd, in which Almarai now holds a majority stake.

“Sales have increased by 164.6 million riyals as a result of this first time consolidation,” it said.

Operational profit for the second quarter increased by 7 per cent to 434.6 million riyals compared with 405.8 million riyals in the same period a year earlier.

Almarai raised 1 billion riyals through its first sukuk, or Islamic bond, in March, which it said was 4.7 times oversubscribed.

In May the dairy firm’s board approved a 15.7 billion riyal, five-year investment plan that will draw on finance from bank loans and Islamic bonds.

The money will replace the company’s existing investments base and fund expansion between 2013 to 1017 of its operations in farming, manufacturing, distribution and logistics, it said.

Almarai has been keen to expand its footprint outside its core presence in the Gulf region. In December it acquired Fondomonte S.A., which owns and operates firms in Argentina, to secure feed for its dairy herd and poultry business.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s Dar al-Arkan, the kingdom’s largest property developer, said its second-quarter net profit rose 11 per cent but still missed analyst expectations.

The firm made a net profit of 331 million riyals ($88 million) in the three months ending June 30, compared with 298 million riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement on Saturday.

“The increase in net income for the six month period and the second quarter this year compared… is primarily due to the increase in real estate sales, which is attributable to the demand increase on the company’s products,” the statement said.

A group of six analysts had forecast that Dar would achieve a net profit averaging 424 million riyals.

Operational profit increased 11.8 per cent in the second-quarter to 341.7 million riyals, compared with 305 in the same period a year earlier, it said.

The kingdom’s real estate sector is characterised by very strong demand for housing and was given a further boost in early July when the government said it had approved a mortgage law that will regulate lending to house buyers.

Dar said in May it would book gains from a 741.7 million riyal ($198 million)-land sale in its second-quarter results.