An aerial view of the facilities of Qatar Petrochemicals (Qapco) in Mesaieed. Qapco posted QR1.43bn profit on QR1.84bn revenues in the first half of 2015.
Market heavyweight Industries Qatar (IQ) – the holding company of Qatar Petrochemicals, Qatar Fertiliser, Qatar Steel and Qatar Fuel Additives - has reported a net profit of QR2.4bn on revenue of QR2.89bn in the first six months of this year.
IQ saw a 55% increase in net profit during April-June 2015 compared with the previous quarter, aided by a strong recovery in the product prices most notably in the petrochemical segment and improved sales volumes in the petrochemicals and steel segments, a company spokesman said.
However, petrochemical product price deflation on lower global oil prices and weak fertiliser prices led IQ to report a 15% drop year-on-year (y-o-y) in net profit in the first six months of this year.
Qatar Petrochemicals saw QR1.43bn profit on QR1.84bn revenues, Qatar Fertiliser QR0.99bn on QR3.39bn and Qatar Fuel Additives QR0.33bn on QR1.26bn, according to its financial statement filed with the Qatar Stock Exchange.
The group revenue witnessed an 8% fall y-o-y to QR2.89bn, primarily due to a “significant” reduction in petrochemical product’s selling prices following the oil price decline that began in early fourth quarter of 2014 and “moderate” reduction in the fertiliser product prices driven by favourable market conditions primarily for some of the key supplier markets, an IQ spokesman said.
Sales volumes were nevertheless “significantly” up on last year as IQ benefited by comparatively lower number of planned maintenance days in the current year since most of the group’s production facilities completed their planned and warranty maintenance shutdown in 2014 resulting in a significantly higher maintenance days in the first half of 2014, he said.
Although the company saw its cost of sales fall 4% y-o-y to QR2.3bn, there was a 21% plunge in gross profit to QR591.22mn.
Other income was down 34% to QR121.95mn and share of result of joint ventures by 10% to QR1.85bn. Moreover, it had reported QR3.55mn as share of loss of associates against QR12.41mn gains in the corresponding period of 2014.
General and administrative costs fell 17% y-o-y to QR88.32mn and finance costs by 45% to QR14.76mn; while selling expenses rose 25% to QR29.81mn.
Total assets were valued at QR34.02bn comprising current assets of QR8.43bn and non-current assets of QR25.59bn.
Total equity stood at QR31.83bn on a capital base of QR6.05bn and earnings-per-share was QR4.01 at the end of June 30, 2015.
